Rome, Italy, May 23, 2007 / 11:04 am
In a strongly worded editorial signed by Andrea Galli, the Italian Catholic daily “Avvenire” slammed the country’s state-run television network for considering the broadcast of a controversial documentary against the Pope and the Catholic Church produced by the BBC.
The RAI network recently announced it had acquired the rights to the documentary “Sexual Crimes and the Vatican,” in which the BBC directly attacks the Pope, calling him “responsible” for “covering up” sexual abuse, based on an erroneous and purposeful misinterpretation of a document published years ago by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which at the time was under the direction of then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The document’s actual intent was to prevent sexual abuse.
After airing in Britain months ago, the documentary sparked an official complaint by the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom. The archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, sent a complaint to the director of the BBC, accusing the network of lacking serious research, distorting the truth and open persecution against the Catholic Church.
The documentary was produced by Colm O’Gorman, a militant anti-Catholic who years ago announced his commitment to attacking the hierarchy and especially the Pope.
Although RAI has yet to air the documentary, pirated copies of the program with subtitles in Italian have already found their way on to the internet.