It's rare that you see people in the Roman Curia like Vatican Press chief, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, gob-smacked, but that's how he was when he saw the Australian media contingent for the canonisation of Mary MacKillop. At the press conference I attended there were a couple of Canadians and a few sundry others, and 35 media personnel from Australia.
But Lombardi was not the only one gob-smacked. So was I at the saturation media coverage.
Channels Seven and Nine, Sky, SBS, the ABC, The Age (representing Fairfax) and several other Australian newspapers covered the event. Channel Seven alone had 27 people from news and current affairs on the ground in Rome. Sky News had continuous coverage of the event from 4pm with a live cross to the actual canonisation ceremony from the Vatican.
7Two presented an hour-long Seven News Special from 6.30pm (in which I participated) and their Sunday Night program covered the miracles and associated stories with live crosses into the 7Two coverage. On Nine Sixty Minutes featured a story discussing the miracles.
ABC News 24 carried the canonisation Mass live, but with an inadequate commentary. Geraldine Doogue was in Rome for the event and Compass did a special on it. ABC News Radio did live crosses to Rome. The History Channel replayed their special Blessed Mary which curiously featured Alan Jones as host.
The next morning the radio and TV news programs gave the event extensive coverage. I was interviewed just outside the Piazza of Saint Peter's by none other than 'Kochie' (David Koch) on Sunrise. The Seven web page quoted me saying the canonisation 'confirms that women are very much part of the ministry of the Church and that in many ways the Church's foundations are built upon their work'.
I made sure I got that plug in!
So what is the significance of this saturation coverage? Commercial TV does not spend a lot of money on an event unless there is something to be gained. They must have assessed that Saint Mary touched a chord somewhere in the Australian psyche.
Sure, they treated it like a sporting event, but they had enough sense to realise that the main game (the liturgical event) lacked excitement, so they knew they needed a lot of