22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Four cardinals accused Pope of heresy. Is this a sequel to Conclave?
So fair play to 5 Live where Nicky Campbell's morning phone-in show immediately pivoted to cover the news.
Times Radio's morning news show had the advantage of running until 10am, so Nick Wallis and Rosie Wright had an extra hour to digest and reflect. Wallis spoke to author and commentator who was effusive in his praise of Pope Francis.
'He was a radical in the deepest sense of the word,' Wilson suggested. 'He was the most radical world leader we've had in decades.'
Read more
On Monday evening Radio 4 broadcast The Life of Pope Francis, presented by Edward Stourton. It was a programme that had clearly been in the works for a while - given the Pope's health in recent months, no surprise - and as such it offered a clear-eyed assessment of the man's life and legacy that didn't shy away from the fact that the head of the Catholic Church is a political position as much as it is a spiritual one.
Was Pope Francis a liberal, Stourton asked? An American nun argued that such a label didn't fit. His ministry couldn't be reduced to labels. 'I don't think you can call it liberal, progressive or conservative. I call it a pastoral, human approach.'
Instead of wagging a finger, author Paul Vallely added, he was a Pope who put his arm around people. That said, four cardinals accused him of heresy. There's probably a sequel to Robert Harris's Conclave in all this.
Coincidentally - or maybe not so coincidentally given that it was Easter Monday - Radio 4's Start the Week took religion and spirituality as its theme, asking whether Matthew Arnold's 'sea of faith' was indeed retreating. The answer seemed to be no. There's a growth in church attendance among young people in both conservative and liberal churches.
Pope Francis attended the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland (Image: Danny Lawson) Perhaps the more interesting line - and certainly the one that resonated most for a lapsed Protestant atheist like myself - was the reminder that our ideas of nationhood and identity and self and even art have been shaped by centuries of Christian thought.
We are Christian even when we're not, I guess.
One of the radio upsides of the Easter weekend on radio is that it's one of the few times Radio Scotland shakes things up ever so slightly. (Is there any other UK radio station that is so rigid in its programming?)
What that meant on Monday was another episode of the occasional sporting series Scotland v the World, presented by Andrew Cotter.
This episode revisited a moment in Italian football history. Cotter told the story of Scots Jack Diment and James Squair who had won the Scudetto back in 1905 with Juventus.
And it was a good story. Diment and Squair - both from Durris originally - went to Turin to work for a shipping company and ended up playing for Juve at the same time.
This was a decent, snappy half-hour documentary, albeit a bit bare bones; just a couple of voices telling us what happened and actor Colin McCredie playing Diment in dramatic monologues that were, in truth, a wee bit too Hot Shot Hamish-flavoured for my taste.
Rose Reilly won the Italian championship with Napoli, Lecce and AC Milan
And then halfway through Cotter deviated away from the stories of Diment and Squair to remind us that while no men have repeated their success in Italy - though Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay could do so with Napoli this season - three Scottish women have.
Indeed, more than 20 Scottish women have played in Italy and Rose Reilly won the championship with Napoli, Lecce and AC Milan.
I'll be honest. This seemed a more interesting story than that of Diment and Squair's, especially as we got to hear from Reilly herself and some typically excitable Italian commentary of her success. Suddenly, it was like the programme had just been given a jolt of electricity. A good reminder that radio isn't always just about voices. A little sonic texture can add extra juice to any broadcast.
Listen Out For: Local Hero, Radio 4, Sunday, 3pm
Bill Forsyth's classic 1983 film about an oil exec seduced by the beauty of Scotland has been adapted for radio by Marty Ross. The cast includes Harry Lloyd, Greg McHugh and Sophie Kennedy Clark.
