Saturday, April 19, 2008

The little things ...

I've been following mainly the Pope's public events and his speeches. I've not had the time to look at the tons of places that are covering the human response to the Pontiff's presence.

The NCR(egister) blog is one that does a stellar job. This little bit caught my eye, in a post entitled "New York Loves the Pope."
As some stood at the front of the police pen that had been set up in an area known for U.N. protest rallies (I remember covering one concerning Sudan once), others behind them danced in a big circular motion as guitars and drum kept a lively tempo. The music, the warm spring sun, the buzz of the city streets, the anticipation of the arrival of the Pope seemed to have a kind of hypnotic effect. Banners in front proclaimed people's warm sentiments for the guest who was about to arrive.

Samuel Gonzalez, who I was interviewing, told me that the empty pen next to them had been set up for those who wished to express opposite sentiments. The pen was empty. "There was a guy there a little while ago, but he just left," Gonzalez said. A policeman confirmed that the empty pen was there for protestors.
Ha! We heard that VOTF was going to protest, as was Fred Phelps and his brood. Now, I haven't really been following the MSM converage, but I haven't heard a thing about them. (And continue reading that post as it describes the scene outside the residence of Abp Migliore, the Vatican's representative to the UN, where the Holy Father is staying in New York. Once again, I'm reminded of one of the Pope's earliest remarks after his election. "La chiesa e giovane!" The church is young!")

I forget where I read that Christopher Hithens was kvetching that "once the media has stopped genuflecting, perhaps they can examine Benedict's role in the sex abuse crisis more closely." Or something to that effect. Someone sounds bitter?

Speaking of the MSM:

Tim Russert and Wolf Blitzer gush about their private meeting with the Pope (I saw this first at Vitus' blog.)



Wolf Blitzer.

1 comment:

Mattheus Mei said...

no i found the fred phelps crew, they did protest and I'm suprised it didn't cause or hasn't yet caused a riot with their hate speech.