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By John L. Allen Jr.
NCR Rome Correspondent
Even in moments of calm, the Vatican is an
environment that breeds rumors. But the last two weeks, in which John Paul’s
health has become the lead story in the global media, have witnessed a bumper
crop of false leads and conflicting “scoops.” It’s a situation in which even the
most disciplined journalists sometimes get swept away.
Ironically, following an inexplicable informational blackout for much of March,
it has actually been the Vatican that, to some extent, has come to the rescue.
Twice-daily bulletins with unusually candid descriptions of the pope’s state
have provided enough solid information to satisfy public curiosity, that the
most speculative accounts have generally not been reported.
In the week prior to March 30, when the Vatican issued the first in what to date
has been a series of bulletins documenting the pope’s decline, premature rumors
of his death or collapse were daily affairs. Media interest fueled that
speculation, but it was by no means just journalists caught up in the fray.
Alleged “insiders” in Rome, including priests on the Italian church scene,
diplomats accredited to the Holy See, and even a few Vatican officials, at
various points were circulating accounts that John Paul was dead, that he had
suffered a heart attack or a cerebral hemorrhage, that he was in a coma, that he
was already in the Gemelli Hospital, and even that he had staged a miraculous
recovery and was actually in better shape than everyone believed.
To take one example, an Italian priest on Friday, April 2,
privately told several media organizations that John Paul had actually died at
5:00 am that day, and that the Vatican was withholding the information. The
source persisted in that account even after a 12:30 pm briefing in which Vatican
spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said tearfully that the pope was still alive,
but in a very grave state. Media organizations spent much of that afternoon
attempting to document the priest’s report, eventually realizing the
impossibility that the Vatican could have maintained such a massive cover-up for
such a long period of time.
For the most part, mainstream media organizations managed
to avoid broadcasting or printing these rumors, even if a disproportionate share
of their time and resources were devoted to trying to track them down. On April
2, however, that editorial filter began to seem a bit porous. Media
organizations began to cite another reporting that the pope was dead round 8:30
pm Rome time, then began to back down as conflicting accounts emerged, and were
finally forced to withdraw the report when the Vatican issued a denial.
The truly striking element of all this in the last 72 hours
has been the willingness of the Vatican to be forthcoming.
In the old days, it used to be said that “the pope is not
sick until he’s dead.” The Vatican traditionally never released negative
information about the pope’s health, even when a pope was near death, on the
grounds that doing so was both unseemly and potentially destabilizing for the
church.
In the last 72 hours, on the other hand, the Vatican has by
its own standards been remarkably talkative, issuing twice-daily bulletins
updating the pope’s condition. The noontime briefing on Friday was exceptional
not only for its candor – beginning with the admission that the pope’s condition
is “very grave” – but also for the emotional register with which Navarro-Valls
spoke. At one point, he had tears in his eyes, an extremely uncharacteristic
touch for this normally cool, poised communicator. Seeing Navarro in tears, for
journalists and others who know the Vatican, spoke more than the statement
itself about where things were headed.
This kind of disclosure may seem par for the course by
secular standards, but it is a sea change in normal practice for the Holy See.
Navarro-Valls has fought titanic battles over the years to convince some
reluctant Vatican officials, though never John Paul himself, of the virtues of
greater transparency. It would seem that the way that coverage of the end of
John Paul’s life is unfolding has, to some extent, arguably vindicated that
effort – the Vatican’s regular and fairly full communications have for the most
part kept reporting anchored in reality, rather than driven by the speculation
that floats through the air.
John Paul II was always a pope who understood the power of
communications, and that approach marked his pontificate until the very end.
Whether it continues, and what else the future may have in store for the
Catholic Church, is now in the hands of the 117 cardinals who will soon gather
to elect the pope’s successor.
John L. Allen Jr. is NCR Vatican correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@natcath.org
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