UK TV — Inside the Vatican

I think probably people outside the UK won't be able to see this yet, though I expect it will eventually find its way to you (I've linkified the picture).

But for UK friends, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I watched it with great curiosity, realising that though I've read about the Vatican and heard a lot about the Pope, I've never seen inside.

I was delighted by Episode 1 (Episode 2 airs on Friday). The members of staff came across as so genuine and thoughtful, and the whole place has an ambience of gentleness and humanity that took me completely by surprise. There are a couple of places in it where one of the (adult) choristers is interviewed. Reviewers speak of this as him expressing his religious doubts, but I heard more humility than doubt — "What do I know? I'm a baritone." He spoke of how, when he sings, he senses himself to be part of something greater and deeper. I thought what he had to say made the effort to be realistic and truthful, such a refreshing relief from the sententious piety he might have been expected to offer.

And the snippets (all too short) of Pope Francis's addresses had depth and originality; a wise and humane soul. I feel blessed to be here in this time that he is head of the church.

My introduction to life in the Vatican has mainly been from books like Robert Harris's Conclave and Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, both brilliantly written and entirely absorbing, but leaving me with a sense of a place characterised by intrigue and uneasy relationships, competitiveness and jealousy. This TV series doesn't give me that feeling at all. I felt intrigued and delighted by the women who worked there — how they seemed such genuine people and so at ease with themselves, not trapped in the tight-skirt-high-heels-and-make-up masked ball of the business world, nor yet formed and shaped primarily by taking refuge in carbohydrates as is so often the fate of women who work for the church.

If you haven't seen it and you have access to it, I do recommend it.