Coverage of Pope John Paul II’s beatification: Adulation without understanding
Hector Bryant L. Macale
With research from Karlin E. Galao, Mari Joie A. Ladia, and Venus Clarisse C. Tenorio
News about the May 1 beatification of Pope John Paul II competed with other explosive events during the period: the wedding of British Prince William and Kate Middleton, the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and the boxing match between Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao and American Shane Mosley.
PJR Reports monitored the Manila-based newspapers, news programs, and websites from a week before and after the beatification of Pope John Paul II, who was born Karol Josef Wojtyla on May 18, 1920 in Poland. The monitor did not include the live coverage of the three major networks of the event.
The coverage was unashamedly adulatory, which was hardly surprising. The dominant religion in the country is Roman Catholicism and the late Pontiff, who visited the Philippines in 1981 and 1995, was very popular among Filipinos.
But an avalanche of glowing tributes and reports about personal encounters with the late Pope resulted in the underreporting of other issues in the coverage. Most importantly, the fast-tracking of Pope John Paul II’s beatification process despite the sex abuse scandals involving members of the clergy that were ignored or covered up during his reign was given scant attention.
Tributes and first-person accounts
What marked the coverage were tributes and first-person accounts by columnists and other Filipinos.
Freelance journalist Minyong Ordoñez wrote a commentary for the Inquirer describing Pope John Paul II as somebody who “changed the image of the papacy, from Vatican-centric to world-centric.” Ordoñez wrote: “John Paul was in the thick of involvement with the ills and dysfunctions of the 21st century. World leaders sought his prayers and counsel in solving racial bigotry, war of attritions, self-destructive terrorism and ecological devastations. As Vicar of Christ on Earth, he stood tall with the humility of Jesus Christ doing his Father’s will.” (April 29, p. A14)
In his tribute, former senator and Opus Dei member Francisco Tatad wrote how Pope John Paul II, who served as Pope for nearly 27 years, had “tried to spread so much faith, hope and love to billions of people.” Tatad wrote that john Paul II created the first Filipino saint, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, and beatified another Filipino, Pedro Calungsod. (“Remembering Blessed John Paul II”: The Manila Times, The Philippine Star, May 10)
“Pope John Paul II launched my writing career” ran the title of Ma. Ceres Doyo’s Inquirer column last April 28. The piece, which was about the Pontiff’s connection to her writing career, was a condensed version of what she wrote in 1995 when Pope John Paul II visited the Philippines.
BusinessMirror (“Filipinos’ fond memories of the beloved Pope”, May 1 p. A8) and the Inquirer (“Bishops remember the man who loved cakes, dark chocolate”, April 28, p. A18) reported how Filipino bishops remember the late Pope for his charisma and fondness for desserts.
The ABS-CBN News Channel and abs-cbnNEWS interviewed retired Brigadier General Amadeo Forteza, who was part of Pope John Paul II’s security detail in his Manila trip in 1981. (“Filipino general had holy encounter with Pope John Paul II”) Forteza recalled his family’s meeting with the Pope, including his gift of a medallion.
Local color
Not surprisingly, much of the updates regarding the beatification ceremonies and background information about Pope John Paul II’s life came from international news wires. However, a number of accounts provided local color to the coverage—the people Pope John Paul II met in his visits in Manila when the latter was still the Pontiff, and the places he visited in the Philippines.
For example, contributor Winston Marbella wrote that two innovations in the World Youth Day celebrations—a hymn and logo—originated in the Philippines when the country hosted the event in 1995. The 1995 World Youth Day was Pope John Paul II’s second and last visit to Manila. (““World Youth Day innovations started in Manila ’95”, May 1, p. A8)
A walk for the late Pope in Bataan was organized on the date of his beatification, according to the Inquirer. The walk was held where Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in the province during his 1981 Manila visit. (“Walk for John Paul to build new shrine”, April 28, p. A1). The Manila Times also reported about the “Pope John Paul II” shrine. (“Morong’s Blessed Pope John Paul II shrine inaugurated today”, May 1) “Named the ‘Memorial Shrine for Blessed Pope John Paul II’, the structure stands on the site of the demolished Holy Family Chapel of the former Philippine Refugee Processing Center that became home to 400,000 refugees from Indochina between 1980 and 1994,” the Times wrote.
Another Inquirer report looked at how Pope John Paul II “had a special spot in his heart for laborers and farmers.” (“Pope’s words in Legazpi: Be proud of manual labor”, May 1, p. A1)
TV programs such as Saksi (April 25) also reported on the Bataan shrine. Many TV reports focused on various Filipinos and their encounters with the late Pope John Paul II.
Hurried beatification?
Considered the fastest case in modern sainthood, John Paul’s beatification process has been questioned by several quarters, in light of the litany of sex abuse scandals exposed during his reign. Some wire reports published in the local papers and sites carried some information about this issue, but this was given scant coverage locally.
The local press should have probed the issue further, especially since some Philippine cases of sex abuse by members of the clergy have been reported. Quoting Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of the Catholic Bishops Conference as source, a 2002 BBC report said that about 200 of the 7,000 priests in the Philippines “may have committed ‘sexual misconduct’—including child abuse, homosexuality and affairs with women—over the past two decades.” (“Philippines Church apologizes for sex abuse”, July 8, 2002)
Some TV and newspaper reports did report accusations that Pope John Paul II’s beatification process had been conducted hastily. But most relied on Church officials’ defending the process, and did not provide viewers enough information about the usually long canonization process of the Roman Catholic Church or why some sectors are, at the very least, questioning Pope John Paul II’s beatification.
Helpful reports
GMANews Online provided infographics showing the steps to sainthood, and the Popes in the 20th century on their way to becoming saints, including Pope John Paul II. ABS-CBNNews reposted a comprehensive profile of the late Pontiff from the Holy See Press Office.
Both GMANews Online and ABS-CBN News provided a timeline of Pope John Paul II’s life.
TV Patrol last April 25 also explained the sainthood process in the Roman Catholic Church.
Relevance
Some editorials and columns linked the beatification of Pope John Paul II to the need of an ancient institution such as the papacy to show its relevance in the present world.
“The coming royal wedding in England and the beatification of Pope John Paul II in Rome will afford the world a chance to see how two ancient institutions—the monarchy and the papacy—reinforce their claim to perpetuity and continuing relevance by a show of pomp and pageantry. Supposed to be historical rivals, especially considering their religious wars since the 16th century, these two institutions have in the recent past have come to some form of rapprochement, preoccupied as they have been with the more basic issue of survival,” the Inquirer wrote in its April 27 editorial (“Spectacle to the rescue”). The wedding of British Prince William and Kate Middleton happened last April 29, two days before the beatification of Pope John Paul II.
Taking off from his paper’s editorial, Inquirer columnist Randy David wrote: “That Benedict XVI would be presiding over the beatification of his predecessor, John Paul II, who is being honored for his saintliness and remarkable humility as God’s shepherd, is certainly a story that stands out against the dark Vatican narrative that Pope Alexander VI represented. This story tells us how the Church has moved on from its medieval roles, even if many of its clerics might still cling to the old practices and privileges.” (“Popes and princes”, April 28, p. A14).
David ignored the firestorm over the cases of sexual abuse worldwide that suggest that some habits die hard. (The “anti-Pope” Alexander VI was a sexual libertine who fathered several children, among them the equally notorious Lucrezia Borgia.)
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