I will admit – the smiley and performative Pope John Paul II is a tough act to follow, but Pope Benedict XVI just seems to be downright gloomy and square. Perhaps I’m going to hell for saying this, but cheer up, Benedict – what is the sense in cancelling the annual Christmas concert?
So Lauryn Hill had some controversial things to say one year, and some other pop stars have had their moments too. Ratzinger’s dearly departed pal Karol Wojtyla knew a few things about public relations, and Rats clearly doesn’t. John Paul started the Christmas pop concert because he understood that it was one of many ways he could reach the “young people”. The minor controversies (statements which can and do get edited out for televised versions of the concerts, by the way) are just that – minor.
You can read more about the handwaving around the reasons for canceling the concert here.
In the meantime, while it is probably too late for Rats to go out and get a theatre degree like Karol W. had, he could at least start reading Seth Godin’s blog and figure out a few things about marketing, because he needs all the help he can get, clearly. (and he’ll have to just milk what he can from Seth’s blog, since Seth notes in a 2005 post that he is not interested in helping the Vatican with marketing, which is unfortunate for the Vatican.)