John Thavis: A week ago, a lot of people were wondering how Pope Benedict would be received in Great Britain and whether the trip would be counted as a success or a failure. Well, the verdict is in, and we’ll talk about it today on the Vatican Report. I’m John Thavis, Catholic News Service Rome bureau chief.CW: And I’m Cindy Wooden, CNS Rome correspondent. The first thing to say about this trip is that Vatican officials were positively delighted at the way it went. Sure, there were protests -- in fact, the biggest protests that Pope Benedict has ever encountered. But the crowds that turned out to hear the Pope were much, much bigger. And the whole country, especially the mass media, seemed to tune in to what he was saying. That’s what the Vatican said was important: people listened.JT: What happened in Britain is something we’ve seen before on papal trips. There was so much negative publicity ahead of time -- even talk of trying to arrest the Pope for so-called “crimes against humanity -- that I think people were tired of it. Maybe the press was tired of it too. Then when the pope arrived, people saw and heard the real person, not a media caricature. That is something that always works in the Pope’s favor. His talks were thoughtful and challenging and full of content.CW: Right. As Prime Minister David Cameron said, the Pope made Britons “sit up and think.” And the Pope’s themes were important ones: he said religion was being marginalized in society and warned against what he called “aggressive” forms of atheism. In a major speech in Westminster Hall, he laid out his vision of the rightful place of religion in civil society. What made these talks effective was that, to illustrate how faith can impact society, he drew on examples from Britain’s own history -- people like Florence Nightingale who served the sick, or David Livingstone, a missionary who worked against slavery.JT: Of course, it isn’t only speeches and homilies that people react to. I think one of the most important events came when the 83-year-old Pope spent more than an hour and a half with 4,000 schoolchildren -- more time than his schedule called for, at the start of his busiest day in London. The kids had a lot to tell him, and the Pope was patient and appreciative. That impressed people. One newspaper said the following day: this is a Pope who took the time to charm his guests. Again, they were seeing the Pope as a human being, not as some remote ideological figure.CW: The trip also showed that the clerical sex abuse scandal is something Pope Benedict is willing to keep talking about. He brought it up five times -- on his plane from Rome, at a Mass in London, at meetings with sex abuse victims and with child protection officers, and with British bishops. He expressed his sadness, sorrow and shame over cases of abuse, and said the church had not been vigilant enough in preventing and investigating them.JT: Now, these words did not satisfy some critics, who want more accountability and the removal of bishops. But I think the Pope left British Catholics with the impression that he’s not running away from this issue, and that from now on it’s going to be a subject for open discussion in the Church. I’m John Thavis.CW: And I’m Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service.

John Thavis: A week ago, a lot of people were wondering how Pope Benedict would be received in Great Britain and whether the trip would be counted as a success or a failure. Well, the verdict is in,...leggi tutto