BBC Head of Religion & Ethics on the Pope’s visit
Aaqil Ahmed from BBC Blog (Hat Tip: eChurch Websites)
On the morning of 28 May 1982, an Alitalia 727 aircraft touched down at London Gatwick airport. Minutes later Pope John Paul II knelt down and kissed the tarmac.
What followed was an historic and demanding six-day tour of the UK that gripped the nation, and dominated the news both in the UK and around the globe.
I was a football-mad boy just about to turn thirteen and residing in Bolton when I watched his arrival in 1982. I – like others of around my age – remember being enthralled by Blue Peter and Newsround features about the visit – and who can forget marveling at the all-important Pope mobile.
I had little concept of what the Pope's visit to our shores really meant to the millions of Catholics in the UK. I just knew that this man was causing a bit of a stir when he turned up in his very different looking car. Like all things when you are a child, the fascination passed quickly, but my memory of his visit remains, and what really sticks in my mind especially is the sheer size of the crowds who came to see him in Heaton Park in Manchester.
Today – as a forty-one year-old man – I am now preparing for the first visit of a Pontiff for 28 years (and the first ever State visit) and I am in a very different place. I am obviously a lot older, I hope wiser, a father myself, and I am very proud to now be the BBC's Head of Religion and Ethics and the Commissioning Editor for Religion TV. And this papal visit by the current pope – Benedict XVI – rather than being a passing fascination, is on my mind every minute of every day, morning, noon and night. Why? Because I, along with many of my colleagues across BBC TV, radio and online, are getting ready to cover this historic State occasion with a myriad of eclectic programming.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
