Pope
Francis in the Philippines: press review 'Day Two'
(Vatican Radio) Sean Patrick Lovett is in the capital of the
Philippines Manila, reporting on the Apostolic visit of Pope Francis to Asia
from the 12th to the 19th of January. The Pope arrived in the Philippines on
Thursday flying in from Sri Lanka. Upon his arrival he received a very warm
welcome, an enthusiasm echoed teh following day in the Manila tabloids.
If all you had to go on was today’s Manila tabloids you’d be
absolutely right in thinking either one, or both, of the following: 1. The
Philippines is the new centre of the Universe; 2. Pope Francis is the
uncontested leader of that Universe.
Every single
front-page story in Manila’s three daily papers is a Pope-story – and most of
those on the inside pages are as well. Here’s a sampling:
The Philippine Daily
Inquirer has pun-fun with the fact the Pope’s white zucchetto flew off his head
as he stepped out of the aircraft yesterday – hence the headline: “Blown Away”.
Milking the metaphor, the main article in entitled “Inexplicable joy:
mind-blowing”. Inside pages include major articles on (I quote) “Why you need a
Pope Francis in your life” and (again I quote) how “His impact is much like
what the Beatles did to rock and roll” (but I won’t go into details on that
one). More serious editorials invite readers to “Be disciplined, help protect
Francis”, others discuss his leadership style, and opinion pieces stimulate
some profound and even controversial reflections on “why Asia’s largest
Catholic country is likewise one of its most corrupt”…
The Philippine Star
unabashedly opens with the much-used epithet “The People’s Pope”. More
importantly, it offers an article that clarifies how “Focus is on the poor,
exploited”. Aside from looking ahead to the Tacloban visit tomorrow (“Tacloban
painted white for Pope”) and providing the inevitable and necessary weather
update (“Storm Amang enters Philippines to bring weekend rains”), possibly the
most interesting front-page story is that entitled “Seeking God by hashtag:
Pope sparks social media frenzy”. It tells how thousands of selfies taken by
Filipinos with life-sized cardboard posters of the Pope are currently flooding
social media along with innumerable Twitter messages using the #ShowThePope
hashtag. Again, editorials take a more serious slant with analysis pieces
regarding how the country is run ( “Necessary and desired changes” ) and
continuing commentary on the security surrounding the visit (“State of
paranoia”).
Finally, the Manila
Bulletin headlines its front page with the announcement: “Pope’s passionate
visit begins”. It also quotes Fr Lombardi as confirming “Papal visit security
well-organized”, and assures its readers that “Francis inspires Catholics to
attend Mass again”. Once more, the most thought-provoking articles are inside,
including the editorial (“Muslims see hope for peace in papal visit”) complete
with a cartoon of Pope Francis flying on the back of a peace-dove over a mosque
in Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines where 20% of the
population is Muslim and a separatist struggle has been underway for years.
But probably the most
practical and entertaining article of all in today’s papers is the one titled:
“7 ways to survive the papal visit”. These include Number 6: “Pray for the
Sinners – with everyone so busy trying to see the Pope who else will?”
And Number 7, the last and most obvious piece of advice: “Stay at Home”!
With the Pope in the
Philippines – I’m Seàn-Patrick Lovett
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét