Is the Vatican ready to handle the British press?

It hardly needs pointing out that the Vatican isn’t always adept at managing its own PR (to put it mildly). An article in the UK Guardian today by Paul Donovan raises a good question: Is the Holy See’s press office ready for the firestorm that could very likely accompany the pope’s visit to Britain next month?

The trip, from 16-19 September, offers plenty of potential pitfalls, with the atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens claiming to be investigating the possibility of arresting the pope over allegations that he was aware of child abuse in the church and did nothing. Then there is the human rights activist Peter Tatchell’s “protest the pope” campaign, and the National Secular Society’s constant questioning of the £19m cost of the visit.

The attitude of the British government may be one of welcome, but hostility does not lie far below the surface in Whitehall, as shown by the infamous “blue-sky thinking” Foreign Office memo in April that suggested a brand of condoms be named after the pope and that he should visit an abortion clinic as part of the visit. The handling of the facetious memo was one of the more astute pieces of public relations from the church, which in effect turned the other cheek in public while in private obtaining more concessions regarding the costs of the papal visit from a government keen to make amends.

Donovan says that the media office for the bishops’ conference of England and Wales has been “professional but reactive. It never seeks to set the agenda” — which lets the mainstream media, who frequently aren’t familiar with the ins and outs of the Church, set the tone, and leaving the  official Church outlets scrambling to keep up.

To address that problem, Austen Ivereigh (the former press secretary for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor) and Jack Valero (the director of Opus Dei in the UK) established “Catholic Voices” earlier this year, an organization that seeks to train lay Catholics in the media skills necessary to explain and defend the Faith. I  think it’s a great initiative, particularly as a long-term project: The Church needs more people who can comment thoughtfully and intelligently on the Faith in the media, especially as an alternative to the usual talking heads called up to comment on these events.

But in the immediate case of the pope’s visit, with so many groups vying for attention, I wonder if they might run into a “credibility” problem: To the average listener, it may not be immediately apparent why this lay group should be trusted over a high-ranking prelate or a group like “Catholic Voices for Reform,” a rival organization also set up in anticipation of the papal visit that supports gay marriage, women’s ordination, and the like.

Ultimately, I feel like it will be the official line out of the bishops’ conference and the Vatican press office that will have the best chance of setting the tone for the visit — which is all the more reason for these organizations to be prepared for what’s coming. Maybe “Catholic Voices” could give them a few pointers.

[H/t Deacon Greg]