RTÉ bound to cover election of the Pope

Fair is fair, but I disagree with the view of the writer that RTÉ are pro-Catholic and that they were biased (Letters, Mar 15) in their coverage of the election of the new Pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, in the Vatican on Wednesday, Mar 13.

There were said to be 100,000 people in St Peter’s Square, who waited for an hour-and-a-half after seeing the white smoke, just after 6pm, on a dark and cold evening, to see the new Pope.

Millions of Catholics in their homes worldwide watched, as did lapsed or non-practising Catholics, out of curiosity.

It was touching, especially to the more disillusioned Irish Catholic eyes, to see the enthusiasm of the younger Italian nuns and priests.

As an Irish TV station with a public broadcasting remit, it is part of RTÉ’s duties to report on ‘big’ news, and the election of a new Pope qualifies, as there is still a good proportion of people in this country who are Catholics.

The coverage was a showing of respect to them.

I, too, like the writer, deplore the terrible cover-ups and bad behaviour of some people in the Vatican.

I also deplore the bishops worldwide who did little to protect young people from the priests who sexually abused or assaulted them.

This abuse was a terrible betrayal of the children, and of their parents’ trust — and was criminal.

There are still legal cases being taken against the Church, in the US, for example, by survivors of that abuse, and the main point in these cases is how the Church leaders looked away from the hurt and pain of the children.

In this country, too, the Catholic Church was also as bad in the past, whether on instructions, or not, from the Vatican, we don’t know fully.

I see nothing wrong in RTÉ’s good coverage of the Papal election.

British Prime Minister David Cameron gave his congratulations to the new leader of the world’s 1.2bn Catholics, even noting that Pope Francis is the 266th Pope.

It was world news.

M Sullivan

College Road

Cork