Pope John Paul in role of Canute

BROADCAST NEWS Deborah Thomas I'D read about The Whole World in His Hands (Channel 4, Saturday) and the controversy surrounding its broadcast on RTE in Ireland, so I tuned in with the kind of expectations you have when settling down in front of a horror movie — you know you're going to end up having to shield your eyes behind the nearest cushion but you can't resist.
Like your average horror movie, the programme got off to an unspectacular start. Originally made for the tenth anniversary of the Pope's visit to Ireland, The Whole World in His Hands began with a mixture of pleasant enough footage of the big event interspersed with comment from some of those who were there on the day.
Writer Neil McCafferty recalled being "as high as a kite" with the excitement of it all, while journalist Colm Toibin said it was "like something out of a movie." There was a charming scene as the papal 747 landed and the Pope turned the tables on a reporter, asking him why there was such great interest in this journey: the reporter replied that it was because the Pope was the one making the trip, and the comment came back, in that beautiful Polish accent, "Oh, I am not'an interesting man".
So much for the scene setting. The action started when the assorted commentators reflected on the visit with hindsight rather than simple recall of the thrill of the moment. The cynicism was wide ranging, but focused on the way the Irish themselves had reacted to the event. Politician Michael Higgins called it "a Status Quo concert gone wrong", while a priest recalled the Pope turning with "a face like thunder" on a churchful of clerical students wildly singing and clapping — his interpretation was that John Paul II was outraged by the young men's lack of the spirit of prayer.
There were also those who were critical of the church and the Pope himself. Several saw the visit as one of the Irish faith's dying gasps as it drowned in a sea of western materialism, a sea that the Pope challenged like Canute, and with about as much success.
And the film made the most of some of these points, as when footage of a crowd of elderly male clerics gathered around their leader, pristine in their robes, was followed by a woman with a baby in her arms challenging any of them to live her life, caring for four children for just one wet week in western Ireland, and still to hang onto their views on birth control and the sanctity of the family.
But all the same, it was hard to see what all the fuss was
about. The church should be able to permit the dissenting voice, listen to it and answer back. to try to shut out criticism would be far greater an admission of weakness than to try to meet modern challenges, The Whole World in His Hands was a thoughtful programme, not the piece of passionate polemic some accused it of being, and there can be few who would not do well to give contemplation to the issues it raised.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Sunday 25 March
12.00 Encounter, ITV "No Laughing Matter" takes a not too serious look at the state of contemporary religious humour.
18.40 Songs of Praise, BBCI From the new Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady in Middlesbrough, built to replace a decaying church in the town
_ centre.
22.30 The Sunday Sequence, Radio 3 Magnificats by sixteenth century composer Orlandus Lassus, sung by the Tallis Scholars.