UK Catholics accuse the BBC

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, has accused the BBC of persistent bias against the Catholic Church. He complained to the BBC about a TV documentary, Sex Crimes and the Vatican, which was shown a fortnight ago.

The documentary alleged that Cardinal Ratzinger, the present Pope, had issued a "secret Vatican edict" in which he instructed Catholic bishops "to put the interests of the Church before the safety of children". Cardinal O'Connor told the BBC that the aim of the programme was to "connect Pope Benedict with the cover-up of child abuse... this is malicious and untrue".

The Cardinal's outburst came only a couple of weeks after the corporation was lambasted by Catholic quarters in the UK for the way it had reported the Pope's clash with the Muslim world. The UK weekly, The Catholic Herald, in its edition of September 22, accused the BBC of causing "avoidable harm" to Muslim-Catholic relations by giving undue prominence to extremists who used the free airtime to fan the flames of hatred". The editorial described reports appearing on the BBC's News Online as "ignorant and one-sided". These reports, according to the weekly, "helped manufacture a crisis for the Church that has endangered the lives of Catholics".

A report appearing in the same issue quoted critics as saying that the BBC's Website did not give space to views of Catholic commentators. "Journalists and writers expressed their anger over the failure of the BBC's news Website to defend or clarify the Pope's comments. James Delingpole, a novelist and critic for The Spectator, said: "I find it bizarre, dangerous and irresponsible that the BBC should choose to pour petrol on the flames of this row by quoting extremist organisations like Tizbut Tahrir and the Muslim Brotherhood... One day the BBC is going to realise that this isn't a game."

The Herald report also quoted the views of Daily Mail correspondent Melanie Philips when she wrote that the BBC had acted in a "questionable manner" when it reported that the Pope had "apologised rather than merely expressing regret for the misinterpretation of his comments". This, according to the Mail journalist, made extremists believe that they had succeeded in intimidating the Pope and forced him to apologise. The BBC was also accused of lack of balance in its reports when it broadcast reactions by prominent Muslims but failed to get the comments of Catholics.

The Herald report quoted a BBC spokesman who denied the accusation of bias. He said that the corporation had reported the Pope's comments and reactions to them.

Incidentally the director-general of the BBC, Mark Thomson, is a practising Catholic. He was invited by the Herald to see for himself how justified were the criticisms levelled at the corporation. In last week's edition, The Catholic Herald, which gave full prominence to the complaints by Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, stated editorially: "...this is by no means the first time that we have reported on our readers' unease at the BBC's coverage of the Catholic Church.

The reason that we return to the issue once again this week is not that we hold a grudge against the corporation, but rather that we believe there is disquieting evidence that the corporation has a grudge against the Catholic Church." A claim which the BBC denies but which facts seem to prove more than justified.