Not having a TV, I nipped round to my mother’s house the other evening to watch the six o’clock news on BBC One on her screen. As I had anticipated, there was an item on the forthcoming visit of the Holy Father. Full of soundbites rather than sound and fury, it showed old footage of Hitler Youth marching off in their shorts, shots of the interior of St Peter’s, the Pope with his face in his hands and a solemn commentary referring to the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and the implied “homophobia” of Catholic teaching. For ignorant viewers – and most viewers are ignorant when it comes to Catholic matters – it gives a subliminal message that the Church is in crisis and the Pope, dogged by a “Nazi” past, in deep distress.