In the wake of John Pauls poignant twilight, his successor and friend Pope Benedict XVI was largely granted a honeymoon from public criticism in the first year of his papacy. That of course ended abruptly with reaction from Muslims and non-Muslims alike to his provocative September speech in Germany about faith and reason, though even that died down with his well-received visit to Turkey in November. But over the past few months back in Rome, there has been a steady flow of criticism of the now 80-year-old pontiff, much of which also relates to his rigid views on doctrine, such as his speaking out against an Italian Parliament bill to allow civil unions for gay couples. But perhaps the most visceral criticism came when the Church denied Catholic funeral rites to an Italian victim of Lou Gehrigs disease, named Piergiorgio Welby, who had campaigned for euthanasia before dying when a doctor unplugged his respirator.
That very incident is at the center of the latest controversy, after an Italian comedian used an annual city concert in Rome to blast the Pope. Andrea Rivera, one of the MCs of the concert, said to some 700,000 youths and a national television audience: "I can't stand the fact that the Vatican refused a funeral for Welby but that wasn't the case for [Chilean dictator Augusto] Pinochet or [Spanish dictator Francisco] Franco." He also tried this one-liner: "The Pope says he doesn't believe in evolution. I agree, in fact the Church has never evolved.
The Vatican wasnt laughing, and on Tuesday its official newspaper LOsservatore Romano went further, lashing out at the remarks as a vile attack and terrorism. "It's terrorism to stoke blind and irrational rage against someone who always speaks in the name of love, the paper wrote.
Riveras remarks may not have belonged at this feel-good concert, and its not surprising that Osservatore rushed to the Popes defense. But clearly, at a time when there is all too much actual terrorism in the world, the newspaper overreached with its analogy. Even Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi seemed to recognize Osservatores excess when he subsequently downplayed Riveras comments as simply foolish.
Still, if the Vaticans collective nerves are a bit frayed these days, its not hard to understand why. The recently chosen President of the Italian Bishops Conference, Angelo Bagnasco, has been repeatedly targeted with graffiti-scrawled threats in his hometown of Genoa and elsewhere. On Saturday, Bagnasco received an envelope containing bullets.
It is likely that both the Pope and Bagnasco will continue to face criticism in Italy, where the Church-State rapport is a constant source of conflict. At least for Benedict, there is a four-day trip to Brazil beginning May 9, which might be a nice break from the rising tension at home. Naturally, though, theres no guarantee that going abroad will be a honeymoon.