AUSTRALIA
WA Today
Gerard Henderson
Executive director, The Sydney Institute
The advent of the 24/7 news cycle has led to an explosion of opinion in which politicians, former politicians, opinion leaders and other celebrities prevail. There is simply not enough hard news to fill the allocated hours on talk radio or such television outlets as Sky News and ABC News 24.
Most people can talk with some authority about contemporary politics. However, this is not the case with some other subjects, which require a degree of expertise if a commentator is to make sense. Yet, this constraint does not necessarily bother panellists on such shows as Paul Murray Live (Sky News) or The Drum (News 24). It is often a case of – have panel chair, will comment.
The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a case in point. This took the international media by surprise. Yet this should not have been the case. In fact, the Pope had raised this very matter in his conversation with Peter Seewald, which was published under the title Light of the World (2010). It was known that Benedict XVI had prayed at the tomb of Pope Celestine V, who had resigned as pontiff in 1294. I referred to Seewald’s book in this column shortly after it was published.
The Pope’s resignation led to considerable comment, some of it ill-informed and much of it ideologically driven. Let’s start with the invincible ignorance. As anyone who has an awareness of Christian theology understands, the doctrine of papal infallibility does not mean that the Pope is always right, still less divine.
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