THE facts answer

When reality is stronger than expectations
The Pope’s visit to Great Britain was predicted to be  a flop. But something happened in the heart of the people.

by John waters

Because of a trip of my own to the U.S., I did not directly witness thePope’s visit, apart from the arrival in Edinburgh. I followed from a distance, snatching snippets of information as I pursued my own travels over that weekend.
I had been apprehensive on the Pope’s behalf, having followed the pre-arrival media coverage, which had been almost unremittingly hostile. The “story” was the protests, the unfavorable comparisons between Benedict XVI and his predecessor, and the alleged apathy on the part of British Catholics toward their leader.
I was almost afraid to watch, but briefly glimpsing some television coverage of the Pope’s arrival in Scotland, I was moved to sorrow for him. He looked alone in a strange and unfriendly place. The welcome by the Queen and Prince Philip seemed perfunctory and cold. The initial stretch of roadway seemed almost empty as the Popemobile moved toward Edinburgh’s city center. I wished for the Pope that he could be sitting in Rome with his feet up, drinking cappuccino.
As I got on the plane for Philadelphia, a friend rang to tell me that he had been watching the continuous coverage of the Pope’s visit on TV and it was amazing. That was the first sign.
Over the weekend, I heard various brief reports, mainly about what the Pope had said and about the arrests of several men which seemed to be connected to some kind of plot to harm the Pope.  From a distance, the visit seemed to be going okay.
It was on my return that I began to grasp that something had happened. I heard the visit being described as a ‘”triumph” on, unbelievably, the BBC.
Everywhere he went, the Holy Father had been greeted by tens,hundreds of thousands of cheering people. Something had happened. The “story” was no longer hostility or apathy, but how the Pope had touched the British nation and provoked it into joy.
The media, obviously, had not effected this turnaround. They simply followed something that occurred. Nor did the Pope do it himself: he was as powerless as anyone in the matter. We can only make stabs at explaining what happened, but we know where it happened: in the hearts of the people who came to catch a glimpse of Benedict XVI, to wave their flags and hold their children aloft to be blessed. This feeling, desire, affection, became the “story.”
Something happened even for those of us who were not there.  For me, the event that I heard about afterwards shone its light on the pessimism I had felt beforehand. I saw how this had been misplaced, and why—because it accepted at face value a description of reality based on a version formulated beforehand.
My sadness for the Pope had betokened a lack of faith. Either we believe or we do not believe. There are no other options.