Usual pattern: the press says it'll be a disaster because no one likes the Pope; even the Catholic commentariat speculates this country is particularly and uniquely hardened and secular; then the Beeb says it IS a disaster because there are some protests.
But then no one can resist the joy and fervor of a bazillion young people longing for something more than lives of low-ball utilitarian calculus, and the supernatural reality of Peter confirming the brethren kicks in.
The crowd-pulling power of Benedict XVI is almost miraculous, given the contrast with his openly charismatic predecessor, and his former image as a conservative “enforcer”. Who could have predicted that at World Youth Day in Spain – which was not even his first visit to that country as Pope – he would attract a crowd of a million young people? Not the BBC, which decided to play down the week’s events in a manner that one commentator described as “almost parodic” in its grouchiness.(The Beeb thought the story was the 5000 anti-Catholic--mostly gay, from the pictures-- protesters, not the more than a million participants. What did they think this was, the March for Life?)
More to come on the subject of what the Pope actually said, but my spy in Colombia sent me an editorial in Spanish that says basically the same thing: the press tried to insist the Pope could never reach anyone, and he had a triumph, once again.
