Just read an unconfirmed report that Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, Pope Benedict XVI's official spokesman, is likely to resign after the pontiff returns from his trip to the Holy Land. British Daily Telegraph commentator, Damian Thompson, assumes that the high-profile resignation signals that Father Lombardi has accepted responsibility for the Holy See's disastrous public relations problems over the past couple of months, beginning with the firestorm that erupted over the Bishop Williamson affair and ending with the explosion of public criticism regarding the pope's remarks about AIDS and condoms [here's my previous post on this]. Thompson argues that
"The Pope's decision to lift the SSPX excommunications was not his [Fr.Lomabardi's] responsibility, but the Church's failure to anticipate the row and its grotesquely slow response to the worldwide row most certainly was."
In the wake of extensive criticism regarding the handling of the excommunication of Bishop Williamson, Father Lombardi sought to tamp down the recriminations in a March 2 Zenit interview:
"Speaking about this [communication] crisis in apocalyptic terms, to me, seems excessive," judged Father Lombardi. "Last year was a year of communication success stories for the pontificate." The spokesman recalled the 2008 apostolic voyages to the United States and Australia, ...and he pointed to the "excellent communications results" from the synod of bishops and the papal visit to France."
In the Zenit interview, Father Lombardi asked those who work in the media to "look at the big picture and maintain objectivity."
But shortly afterwards, the pope himself issued a letter "unprecedented" in its personal tone that both acknowledged mistakes were made, and promised that the Vatican would broaden its research methods to include Internet searches. He also admitted that the Holy See had not sufficiently prepared the wider church to understand his reasons for lifting the excommunication of the four schismatic bishops.
Earlier this month, when I conducted research for a National Catholic Register article on the papal letter, I spoke with Russell Shaw, the former spokesman for the USCCB, and author of “Nothing to Hide: Secrecy, Communication and Communion.”
Shaw argued that Father Lombardi's communications portfolio was too full for adequate oversight, and that, in any case, he was not part of the pontiff's inner circle and thus possessed limited power to shape the pope's message. Shaw suggested that the pope should broaden his circle of advisors to include communications experts with whom he had an already close personal relationship.
“I’d tell the pope to take an hour and work with someone he trusts to explain his thinking. Then I’d have them put that in a document. And if that individual says, ‘Holy Father, I don’t know if this is a good idea, let me do a google search on these bishops and get back to you,” he should be heard. That’s what I would do.”
Seems like a good idea to me, but some of my sources say that things don't' work that way in the Vatican. In any case, no sooner did the Holy See effectively put to rest the central issued raised by the Bishop Williamson affair, than an entirely new controversy put the Holy See's press office back in crisis mode.
During his flight to Africa, the pope offered a brief critique of the role of condoms in AIDS prevention campaigns that fueled a new public relations tsunami. It's possible that no matter how he handled the issue, the pope still would have produced the same level of hysteria, with EC bureaucrats accusing him of gross irresponsibility and AIDS activists condemning him for contributing to the epidemic's toll on innocent lives. In any case, commentators like Damian Thompson believe Lombardi should have kept the pontiff out of trouble:
"Then he allowed a question about Aids, condoms and Africa to be asked aboard the papal plane, which the Pope handled with less than total assurance and clarity. Sorry to have to make that point, but the fact that the Vatican press office felt it necessary to tinker with his quotes afterwards is revealing, don't you think?"
Perhaps the pope's spontaneous comments on AIDS were indeed a mistake that will now complicate his efforts to shape a complex, politically charged debate on the issue.
However, it's doubtful that papal critics would have been any more receptive if Lombardi had scheduled a press conference featuring complimentary copies of Humanae Vitae and a powerpoint presentation on the Theology of the Body. Judging from the drumbeat of criticism, few of Benedict's opponents seem prepared to think more deeply about the heart of his message and why they have reacted with such unbridled wrath.
Postscript: Here is George Weigel's latest take on the Roman Curia snafus and how they are harming Pope Benedict's ability to get his message out. Lots of interesting insights and well worth reading.
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