The mind of the Guardian's religious correspondent

The Guardian's Riazat Butt, who is capable of a kind of silliness impossible to impute to her sceptical but well-informed predecessor, Stephen Bates, claims that the success of the papal visit is due not to the Pope himself, nor the organisers, but entirely to "the Catholic faithful". Surely all three were ingredients of the success? Is the attempt to deny credit to Pope Benedict and the bishops' conference of England and Wales Butt's way of dealing with the evidence that contradicts what is in her mind ideologically impossible -- that the "people" and the "institution" may after all be the same?

Guardian wrap-up from Cofton Park

CV coordinator Austen Ivereigh joins Stephen Bates (photo) for a Guardian podcast wrap-up from Cofton Park. Listen here from 17:50.

Guardian: papal trip is 'wholly justified'

The Guardian today pays a lot of attention to the papal visit -- the long article on global Catholicism posted earlier, this article by Madeleine Bunting (until six months ago, a churchgoing Catholic; now, not so sure) which concludes that the Pope deserves a hearing; and an editorial which ends: "Unattractive as the holy visitor is in so many respects, his trip is wholly justified".

Not bad for a paper many Catholics wrongly think is unsympathetic to the Church. The Guardian gives more space to faith -- of all sorts -- than any other newspaper,  and the quality of its coverage often superior.

The chance to connect

Nick Spencer of Theos -- which published its much-discussed survey of British attitudes to the papal visit at the weekend -- says in the Guardian that there are some important findings for "Catholic spin-doctors to dwell on". Above all this:

The British public does not agree with the pope. They say so, loud and clear. Only 18% agree that "the pope generally responds wisely to problems in the world today". By comparison, 40% say that they "generally disagree with the pope's views on current affairs".

Or, at least, they think they don't agree with pope. Present them with things he has actually written and the story is rather different. The survey tested 12 statements taken directly – but anonymously – from Benedict's most recent encyclical letter, Caritas in Veritate (CiV), to see if the public agreed with them. They did, strongly.

On the environment, 82% of people agreed that "technologically advanced societies can and must lower their domestic energy consumption," (CiV, 49) and 79% agreed that "the natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure" (CiV, 48). On economics, 63% agreed that "investment always has moral, as well as economic significance," (CiV, 40) and 69% agreed that "the consumer has a specific social responsibility" (CiV, 66). On human rights, 90% agreed that "food and access to water are universal rights of all human beings," (CiV, 27) and 59% agreed that "an overemphasis on rights leads to a disregard for duties" (CiV, 43). Most remarkably, a majority of people agree with Catholic teaching about sexual behaviour, with 63% agreeing with Benedict that "it is irresponsible to view sexuality merely as a source of pleasure" (CiV, 44). The only statement with which people disagreed, again strongly (81%), was that "poverty is often produced by a rejection of God's love" (CiV, 53).

He concludes:

What can be said with some confidence is that even in comparatively anti-Catholic Britain, there remains enormous potential for the church to connect with the general public.

'Guardian' surveys Catholicism worldwide

It seems to be booming:

According to the World Christian Database, the proportion of the planet's population professing one or other of its four biggest faiths (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism) rose steeply in the mid-1970s and has been climbing rapidly ever since. By 2005, the figure was 73%.

Strong in the developing world where birth rates are high, Catholicism has done well out of the contemporary "faith boom". Whatever problems Benedict may have, numbers are not yet among them. His church's statisticians estimate that the number of baptised Catholics reached 1,166 million at the end of 2008, a rise of 1.7% on a year earlier. Over the intervening 12 months, the Catholic population as a share of the global total edge up too.

The once-a-Catholic-always-a-Catholic method used for the Vatican's count is debatable: it takes no account of those who "lapse". But even by a more rigorous measure of belief and conviction, Benedict's religion is growing. The number of Catholic priests continues to rise, and in 2008 it reached almost 410,000. But while the number of aspirants to the priesthood grew that year in Africa, Asia and Oceania (and remained broadly stable in the Americas), it shrank – and at a striking rate of more than 4% – in Europe.

That points to Catholicism's outstanding challenge – the secularisation of its traditional heartland. This was the issue that weighed most heavily on the minds of the cardinals who gathered in Rome five years ago to elect a successor to John Paul II. They decided that the best man to tackle it would be the late pope's long-time collaborator, Joseph Ratzinger. And to make the point that he too saw the re-evangelisation of Europe as his top priority, the new pope took the name of the continent's patron saint.

Andrea Tonielli, a respected Vatican-watching Italian journalist, author of Attaco a Ratzinger, is quoted:

The pope "does not think of the re-Christianisation of Europe in terms of a military-style re-conquest. It is not a question of numbers". The key to his thinking, Tornielli believes, is his use of the phrase "creative minority". In a speech Benedict made last year in the Czech Republic, he argued that "it is usually creative minorities that determine the future and, in this regard, the Catholic church must understand that it is a creative minority which has a heritage of values that are not things of the past, but a very lively and relevant reality".

Some of Benedict's supporters believe he wants a smaller, but theologically more homogenous (and reactionary) group of true believers who can hunker down and wait for more propitious times. Tornielli thinks that is a misinterpretation. "The idea of a 'hard core' is essentially military and defensive. I think the pope simply believes that the only way to get the people of our times to encounter God is by bearing Christian witness, living Christian values. It is, after all, not so unlike what happened 2,000 years ago."