April 21, 2005
By Edelberto Behs

SAO LEOPOLDO, Brazil – Over the past three weeks, all mass communication media around the world concentrated on Rome, to cover the funeral of Pope John Paul II and then the election of the new Pope.

How can we evaluate the coverage of the Brazilian press?, a student from the Journalism School in the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) asked me.

Brazilian media was no exception. Similar to other countries, it was present at the funeral and in the election of the new Pope. Material disseminated by Globo Online demonstrates that magnitude of the coverage around the world.

In the 72 hours following the announcement of the death of the Pope a total of 75,000 reports were written, according to a study from Global Language Monitor, an association of linguists that identifies trends in the use of language and its influence on culture.

The name of the Pope was cited 5.6 million times in this period. The figure is three times any mention of terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11 and nearly 10 times any references to the re-election of President George Bush in the same time period.

Throughout 2004, 28,000 reports were written about the Pope and he was quoted 1.5 million times, testimony to Pope John Paul II's media charisma.

In the case of the Brazilian press, the intense coverage seemed as though the media wanted to apologize for not paying due attention to the religious phenomena in the course of daily events.

Brazil is an interesting case. The Brazilian people are highly religious. According to a recent census only slightly more than 7% of the total population, an estimated 182 million people, said they were atheists or have no religious beliefs.

However, despite the major contingent of believers, no Brazilian daily has a religious editor. Yet, you can find the stock indices from Sao Paulo, New York, Tokyo of Frankfurt, despite the fact that those who invest in the stock markets do not reach 0.01% of the Brazilian population. And those who do, likely turn to specialized publications.

Brazilians from all religious backgrounds hoped for a Brazilian Pope. Even President Lucio Inacio Lula da Silva and Vice president Jose Alencar voiced this hope. The press sowed in the hearts of Brazilians the hope that a Cardinal from the land of Pindorama would be the next Pope.

The dailies disseminated for example, the origins, likes and trajectory of one of the potential candidates: Claudio Hummes, from Montenegro, a city some 70 kms from Porto Alegre. The people, when interviewed by television reporters, seemed to be talking about a football game, demonstrating the desire for a Brazilian Pope.

Once the name of the new Pope was announced, it was clear that this spirit forms part of the human condition, even in these times of globalization. For example, in Germany the daily Die Welt ran its front page "A German elected Pope" and the Bild was not far behind with "We are Pope."

If someone believes that the nationality of Joseph Ratzinger is irrelevant or that he is an individual from a world Church, after the election they will have to revise their concept. For the German press and politicians it is important that Benedict XVI is German, writes commentator Christian Semler "Die Tageszeitung," of Berlin.

Unfortunately, this rivalry does not respect personal dignity and refers to conflicts of the past. For example, without demonstrating a great deal of respect for the Pope, the sensationalist Daily Mirror of London ran a headline: "Ratzinger, God's Rottweiler."

Similar was its competitor the Sun with: "From Hitler Youth to Papa-Ratzi." It is known that Ratzinger joined the Nazi Youth because he was forced to at school.

The headlines provoked a reaction in German. Anja Strauss in Bild wrote "the English insult the German Pope." Franz-Joseph Wagner reacted pathetically in the Post. "Who in these sensationalist English papers would think that Hitler made the Pope (.) the headlines smell of sulfur, of rotten eggs. This could only occur to the devil. Or, unhappily, to English with a complex."

In other latitudes where exacerbated nationalism led to the disaster of the Holocaust, the arrogance of belonging to a nation also runs through the veins of some media. I can only imagine what we Brazilians would think of the Cardinals had opted for an Argentine pope. Rivalry, clearly that is born on the football field.

And to conclude, in Pindorama we continue to be sure that God is Brazilian, even if the Pope is German.

Latin American and Caribbean Communication Agency (ALC)