Tablet’s Rome correspondent suspended after Benedict remark

Michael

11 years ago

The Tablet has suspended its Rome correspondent Robert Mickens after he publicly referred to Benedict XVI as “the Rat” and anticipated his death.

The comment came under a March 2 Facebook post about Cardinal Loris Francesco Capovilla, who was Pope John XXIII’s secretary and was recently made a cardinal.

Mr Mickens wrote: “This should have happened a long time ago. Do you think he’ll make it to the Rat’s funeral?”

The comment about Joseph Ratzinger was noticed by Damian Thompson, a writer at The Telegraph, who wrote about it on March 24.

Two days later, The Tablet, a UK Catholic weekly, announced Mr Mickens’s suspension “following remarks made by him on the Facebook website about the Pope Emeritus. An inquiry is now being carried out”.

“The Tablet’s editor, staff, directors and trustees all disassociate ourselves from these remarks.”

In the March 2 Facebook exchange, a Chris Grady replied to Mickens’s comment, adding that “I’m hoping he’ll be well enough to concelebrate the canonisation Mass for Saint John XXIII plus one other on 27 April.”

“The Rat’s funeral the next day would be a bonus,” Grady continued.

Following Mr Mickens’s suspension, Mr Thompson wrote: “The truth is that Robert Mickens has never been able to hide his contempt for Benedict XVI.”

“He should have been replaced by a more dispassionate correspondent years ago.”

Just before his Facebook comment, Mr Mickens told US Public Broadcasting Service show Frontline that Pope Benedict XVI “threw in the towel” when he resigned last year.

“I think Benedict XVI did what he always did. When the fight got too tough, he just kind of threw in the towel. He couldn’t do any more,” Mr Mickens said.

“That’s what he did when he left the University of Tübingen. He will not stand and fight. The stakes were probably too high. He liked a serene life.”

But Mr Mickens said he thought Benedict was sincere in saying he didn’t have the strength or vigour to continue.

In the same interview, Mr Mickens also forecast that Pope Francis’s past record in dealing with clergy sex abuse victims in Argentina “could be a very, very ugly mark on his pontificate”.

Sources