The Black Madonna

Ken Shepherd, posting at NewsBusters.org, links to a "writers notebook" at CBS News that covers the goings-on at World Youth Day in Köln. Shepherd likens it to political convention coverage, but I think it reads more like a concert review.

(Pope Benedict's) homily was a contrast to those of his predecessor. John Paul II’s were generally dense in prose style, littered with Biblical quotations. Today’s had only four direct references that required annotation in the official text. The tone, too, was less finger-waving than JPII’s, even if it did take several minutes to get to the part of the speech that might strike a chord. Journalists call that "burying the lead."

How well it went down is still not clear. It is widely held that one-third of the people at such gatherings are deeply religious, one third are as curious as they are faithful, and the rest came because their friends did.

This is how a secular reporter describes attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - a "speech" where the curious show up. The vapidity required to describe in this way the daily event where Our Lord appears in Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity is utterly breathtaking.

That aside, what seems to come across in the piece is how clueless the reporter is to the circumstances surrounding the event he's covering.

Benedict XVI's arrival for the open-air mass that culminated World Youth Day was the most subdued any of the reporters who cover the Vatican could remember....

Benedict gets the adoration and professed love and respect one would expect for a man in his position, with a sense that there is also a "but..." hanging in the air.

Allen Pizzey never completes the thought, leaving Catholics aghast and non-Catholics confused, I'm sure. I'll complete it for you: "...but he's no John Paul II." That's right he's not, but thank you for doing the Holy Father the disservice of comparing him to someone who may soon be declared a saint, then insinuating that he doesn't measure up.

Has it ever occurred to you, Mr. Pizzey, that World Youth Day was a bit "subdued" because John Paul II himself accepted the invitation to attend, and Pope Benedict has arrived on his behalf as the reigning pontiff? That the crowd, who until recently thought they were going to one of JPII's "rock concert" hyped events, are essentially in mourning? That this is BXVI's very first introduction to the millions who gathered for these events under JPII's shepherding, and they're basically still getting to know one another?

When you come from a culture dominated by cheap sex and vulgarity, I guess it's hard to understand why following one old guy in a little white beanie isn't just as good a ride as the last one.