Is the BBC preparing to go into propaganda mode for Pope’s visit?

Secularists are alarmed at the news that the BBC’s piously Catholic Director General, Mark Thompson, has been in “high level discussions” at the Vatican about how the BBC will cover the Pope’s visit to Britain in September.

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the NSS, said: “We fear that this may herald a massive propaganda push by the Vatican, which it expects its highly-placed adherent to facilitate. Mr Thompson has made clear his own religious leanings, but these must not be allowed to drive the BBC into overkill when the Pope comes here. Very few people are interested in religious broadcasting, as all the research shows and licence payers’ money should not be used to give disproportionate coverage to this visit, which will be of interest to only a small minority.”

A BBC spokesman said Mr Thompson attended a reception at the Venerable English College in Rome in honour of the pilgrimage known as the “ad limina” being made by 35 Catholic bishops from England and Wales. He also attended the Pope’s weekly general audience and was “prima fila” – in the front row reserved for visiting dignitaries.

The spokesman added that Mr Thompson met “senior Vatican officials in his capacity as Editor-In-Chief of the BBC to discuss the forthcoming Papal visit to the UK”.

Mr Thompson also delivered a speech on the future of public service broadcasting at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the institution in Rome run by the controversial and ultra pious organisation Opus Dei.

See also: BBC plans religious overload for Easter