Tag Archive: The Pope


Spotlight on the case. Holy shit! Hold the front page!

Filed under: Movies, Politics — Leave a comment
March 13, 2016

SPOTLIGHT directed by Tom McCarthy (USA, 2015)

 oscarometro2016spotlightHoly shit! Never has this exclamation carried more significance.

Based on actual events (isn’t everything?), the shit uncovered by the Spotlight team of fearless reporters of the Boston Globe at the turn of the Millennium indeed had the holiest of stenches.

The Roman Catholic priests in Boston who molested and abused young boys and girls turned out the be the tip of a dung heap of global proportions. As the credits roll, the printed list of subsequent cases found in parishes around the world is enough to make Jesus and the rest of us mere mortals weep.

Anything which widens the scope of the negative publicity against the hypocritical church establishment is welcome but I doubt that the Pope is quaking in his satin slippers after seeing this lackluster movie. In toning down the sensationalist elements of the story, it becomes more of a celebration of investigative journalism than a full-blooded indictment of this holy disorder. Continue reading →

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SEX AND THE TV WATERSHED

Filed under: Music — Leave a comment
September 30, 2011

whitehouseThe current controversy about the TV watershed  in Britain looks destined to be a footnote in television history.

As Guardian critic Mark Lawson has argued,  even if such a watershed were to be strictly imposed, the principle is ultimately meaningless now that viewers young and old are able to watch shows on their computers whenever they want.

In the UK, since the days of Lord Reith, the BBC has always taken the moral high ground and stood for their notion of decency and good taste. If they slipped up crusaders like Mary Whitehouse were on their backs.

Nowadays, what Lawson calls the on-screen  “slaying, swearing or shagging”  may still occur after 10pm but anyone from the age of 9 to 90 with an internet connection and an ounce of curiosity can be ‘corrupted’ the following morning. Continue reading →

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PAPAL PROTEST IN ROME

Filed under: Italy, Politics — Leave a comment
January 17, 2008

Fifteen years ago Pope John Paul II officially conceded that in fact the Earth is not stationary and that Copernicanism was not a heresy after all. No one can accuse the Catholic Church of acting hastily when it comes to admitting mistakes.

Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) doesn’t even seem to think the inquisition acted that badly – he called their verdict against Galileo (in a speech made in 1990) “rational and just”.

The Vatican should hardly be shocked at the wave of protest at Rome’s la Sapienza University about the fact that the rector invited Ratzinger to inaugerate the University’s new academic year.

An editorial in La Republicca deemed it a step backwards for Italy’s world image -personally, I think it shows a healthy disrespect towards the all things Papal. Usually speaking out against the Vatican is as taboo as public criticism of the Queen in England.

President Georgio Napolitano called the protests “incompatable” with free expression. Presumably ‘compatability’ would involve staying silent on this issue!

The problem is that politicians and the mass media are likely to make a meal of this affair and use what National Alliance leader Gianfranco Fini called the “anti clergy atmosphere” to launch a conservative backlash against Academia.

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