VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)
Lizzy Davies in Rome
The Guardian, Sunday 3 March 2013
Italians fatigued by politics may have switched on the television on Sunday night for a spot of escapism. Showing in all its licentious glory was the first episode of historical drama The Borgias, in which Jeremy Irons stars as dastardly Pope Alexander VI and the Roman Catholic church is depicted as a hotbed of rivalry and intrigue.
If it had been up to Aiart, an association of Catholic TV viewers, however, the programme would not have been shown. “It would be fitting for the broadcast … to be postponed. This is in fact a delicate period for the church, for the papacy,” said Luca Borgomeo, Aiart’s chairman. “Believers are able to make the appropriate distinctions [between the show] and the current situation, but can non-believers … do the same?”
Borgomeo’s question was puzzling in many respects, not least because, until then, not even the most critical of observers had thought to compare the admittedly troubled Vatican of today to its almost implausibly corrupt Renaissance equivalent.
But the sensitivity was telling. In the wake of Benedict XVI’s abdication and in the runup to conclave, the church is indeed going through a delicate period with the spotlight turned on its own scandals and conspiracies. On Monday, as the previous pope settles into retirement 15 miles away, cardinals from all over the world will meet in Rome to begin the process of choosing his successor. Top of the list for many will be a leader who will clean up the mess left by Benedict’s crisis-hit papacy.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.