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Pope Benedict XVI may have the reputation of laboring under a charisma deficit compared with his celebrity predecessor. Yet he is no less newsworthy than John Paul II--at least compared with the second half of that papacy. The arrival of His Holiness at Andrews AFB was the lead item on all three newscasts, qualifying it as the unanimous Story of the Day and accounting for 28% (16 min out of 57) of their total newshole. This was quite the equal of the most intense single day of coverage for the last three of John Paul II's five visits to the United States (20 min in Denver in 1993; 16 min in New York City in 1995; 12 min in St Louis in 1999). Of course, the peak of JPII's newsworthiness in the United States occurred during his earlier trips in 1979 and 1987, when the presence of the pro-Solidarity Polish Pope was as much a geostrategic Cold War story as a religious one.

The Holy Father made news with the traveling Vatican press corps while in midair. He addressed the pedophile priests sex scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church in America with contrition: "We are deeply ashamed," was the soundbite run on all three newscasts. CBS' Byron Pitts cited estimates that the scandal had cost the church $2bn and 4m parishioners nationwide. Lawsuits have bankrupted five dioceses: Portland Ore, Spokane Wash, San Diego Cal, Tucson Ariz, Davenport Iowa. Pitts found "an aging priesthood and a shrinking one" as some 3,200 out of the nation's 19,000 parishes lack a pastor in residency. Nevertheless his unnamed expert sources told Pitts that the Pope "considers the American Catholic Church, the third largest in the world, to be in relatively good shape."

NBC's Natalie Morales concentrated on the papal itinerary, previewing the pontiff's diplomacy at the White House and the United Nations, where his speech "is likely to stress human rights and religious freedom for all faiths." ABC claimed the inside diplomatic track as Cokie Roberts, daughter of the United States' onetime Ambassador to the Vatican, was invited to ride out to Andrews AFB in the First Limousine with George Bush. The President anticipated negotiations on the topics of immigration and Christian-Islamic dialogue. On Iraq, "the President thinks that he is not going to get scolded" because he believes the Pope understands "a precipitous withdrawal would be harmful to Christians" there.

Both CBS and NBC looked for insights into Benedict's personality and ideology. Anne Thompson talked to theologians at Notre Dame for NBC's In Depth in which she rehashed the trouble he found himself in two years ago for quoting a medieval insult against Islam for its "evil and inhuman teachings." Thompson called that "an out-of-context soundbite" before she reassured us that he has a reputation as "a scholar and teacher, warm, kind and determined to build a stronger Catholic Church." CBC anchor Katie Couric consulted Thomas Williams, her network's Vatican analyst, who happens to be a priest--talk about a conflict of interest!--who delivered similar pabulum: "He is really a very nice guy. He is very quiet. He is very intelligent, as everybody knows, but he is also a really good listener, a man who loves dialogue. He loves a good deep conversation."

With the Society of Jesus at his disposal, the finest propagandists known to Christendom, you would think that the Bishop of Rome could come up with a better nickname for his plane. ABC's Dan Harris (embargoed link) told us twice that it is dubbed Shepherd One. How lame is that, you Jesuits? How about Air Infallible?


Andrew Tyndall 4/16/08 8:16:01 pm

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