EYE TV
The funeral of Pope Francis (BBC/ Sky News/GB News/CNN)
TV HAVING created the oxymoron of the live funeral, the British model for a papal requiem is a monarch’s rites, although with the differences that the successor is unknown and the ceremony has a strong supernatural future tense – the late head of state’s acceptance into heaven – that is more discreet in Anglican royal obsequies.
Because Benedict XVI resigned nine years before he died, the funeral of Pope Francis marked the first obsequies of an incumbent Pope for 20 years. In 2005 the BBC fielded a black-tied Huw Edwards, with Archbishop Nichols of Birmingham as expert pundit. Now Edwards lives out the wages of sin while Cardinal Nichols was down in the square in red robes and has a vote for next Pope.
In their places, the BBC fielded Reeta Chakrabarti and journalist Austen Ivereigh, who (a real coup for UK coverage) collaborated with the Pope on books. BBC religion editor Aleem Maqbool referred to Francis “having passed” – a grim signal of a generation that, even at a requiem, cannot say “death”. Further along the Vatican rooftop were Anna Botting for Sky News and GB News’ Ellie Costello, co-hosting with, from London, ex-Tory MP Miriam Cates.