Llandudno -
Our Lady Star of
the Sea
Parish
Priest: Fr Antony Jones STL - Telephone: 01492 860546 [Email]
Sunday October
8th 2006
Dear Parishioner,
You may have watched
the Panorama programme on the BBC on 1 October. It was highly
insulting to our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, and very biased and
anti-catholic. I would like you to read the letter to the BBC
from Cardinal Murphy O’Connor and the statement put out by Archbishop
Nichols of Birmingham.
First, from the
Cardinal to Mr Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, and dated 2
October 06:
Dear Mr Thompson,
In May 2005 I wrote to congratulate the BBC on its coverage of the
death and funeral of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope
Benedict XVI.
It is with deep disappointment that I now write to express the enormous
distress and alarm of the Catholic Community at your decision to
broadcast Sex Crimes and the Vatican. No-one can deny the devastating
effects of child abuse in our society and the damage inflicted on the
victims and their families. This is particularly shameful if such
abuse is committed by a priest and it is of course legitimate to
portray heart-rending elements of this evil.
However, your programme sets out to inflict grave damage on Pope
Benedict, the leader of a billion Catholics throughout the world.
It is quite clear to me that the main focus of the programme is to seek
to connect Pope Benedict with cover-up of child abuse in the Catholic
Church. This is malicious and untrue and based on a false
presentation of church documents.
I cannot understand why no-one from your Corporation made any attempt
to contact the Catholic Church in this country for assistance in
seeking accurate information about this matter. I must ask if
within the BBC there is a persistent bias against the Catholic
Church. There will be many, not only Catholics, who will wonder
if the BBC is any longer willing to be truly objective in some of its
presentations. What a pity if the respect in which the BBC is
held worldwide were to be seriously undermined by the bias and lack of
integrity shown in the decision to broadcast a programme such as
this.
Yours sincerely, The
Archbishop of Westminster
President of the Bishops´ Conference of England and Wales.
A statement from
Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Chair of the Catholic Office for the
Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults:
There are two strands to the Panorama programme Sex
crimes and the Vatican.
The first is a graphic and explicit account of the
evil of child abuse and the personal damage it causes to its victims.
This is horrific and deeply distressing. Those abused as children have
been grievously offended. This is especially so when the abuser is a
priest. The film is a reminder to everyone of the need to work
ceaselessly in the protection of children and in response to the needs
of victims. The Catholic Church in England and Wales is doing so, with
transparency and care, and, in every case, cooperating fully and
immediately with public authorities.
The second strand of the programme is an attack on the Vatican and
specifically on Pope Benedict. This aspect of the programme is false
and entirely misleading. It is false because it misrepresents two
Vatican documents and uses them quite misleadingly in order to connect
the horrors of child abuse to the person of the Pope.
The first document, issued in 1962, is not directly concerned with
child abuse at all, but with the misuse of the confessional. This has
always been a most serious crime in Church law. The programme confuses
the misuse of the confessional and the immoral attempts by a priest to
silence his victim.
The second document, issued in 2001, clarified the law of the Church,
ensuring that the Vatican is informed of every case of child abuse and
that each case is dealt with properly. This document does not hinder
the investigation by civil authorities of allegations of child abuse,
nor is it a method of cover-up, as the programme persistently claims.
In fact it is a measure of the seriousness with which the Vatican views
these offences.
Since 2001, Cardinal Ratzinger, when Head of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, took many steps to apply the law of the Church
to allegations and offences of child abuse with absolute thoroughness
and scruple.
The Panorama programme makes clear the suffering of those abused in
their childhood. But as a public service broadcaster, the BBC should be
ashamed of the standard of the journalism used to create this
unwarranted attack on Pope Benedict. Viewers will recognise only too
well the sensational tactics and misleading editing of the programme,
which uses old footage and undated interviews. They will know that
aspects of the programme amount to a deeply prejudiced attack on a
revered world religious leader. It will further undermine public
confidence in ´Panorama´.
This statement by Archbishop Vincent Nichols is endorsed by the Bishops
of England and Wales.
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, as President of the Bishops´
Conference, is writing to the Director General of the BBC to protest
about this programme. The Cardinal´s letter will be
publicly released later in the week.
God bless you,
Fr Antony Jones