Pope's visit

I have not commented on the Pope's visit to the UK. It has been all over television and readers can make up their own minds about it. I am not a Catholic and although in some areas I might be regarded as a co-belligerent, supporting some Catholic views, there are clear doctrinal differences between them and me.

What I will comment on, though, is the attempt by the BBC to hijack the visit for its own agenda as reported in this piece.

I will quote small extracts but click the link and find the whole story.

A parish in north London has complained over the way in which the BBC carried out an interview in their church. They say that although they were approached by a BBC reporter who asked to speak with parishioners about their views on the Pope's visit - in fact a service at the church was just used as a backdrop to an interview with someone from a campaigning group not based in the parish.

Penelope Middelboe, of the newly created Catholic Voices for Reform ( May 2010) was shown attending the service at St John Vianney’s, including a close-up, and being interviewed outside the church, giving the impression that she was a parishioner and supposedly a spokesperson for the parish. (I do not understand why she was brought to St John Vianney’s when the interview could have been held elsewhere.)

• When the reporter Robert Pigott was speaking, parishioners were shown in the background leaving the church. He said: “The poll shows that large numbers of ordinary Catholics are, by disputing important teachings on issues like celibacy and the role of women, prepared to challenge the Pope’s view on exactly what the church’s message should be”.

The report does not show any of our parishioners expressing their opinions. So this could be understood that those parishioners who were filmed leaving the church shared the views of what the reporter referred to as ‘ordinary Catholics’.?

It pains and saddens me that I now have to question the integrity of the BBC. It deceived our parish priest and did not do what it had explicitly received permission for, which was to seek the opinions of parishioners at St John Vianney’s.

I hope that the BBC will provide fair and honest reporting of the Pope’s historic visit. On a personal note, I thank our Queen for inviting the Pope to the nation. I look forward to your reply.