Across the world we are aware of what I like to call 'sofa TV'. While serious debate can be carried out with politicians and experts on Westminster Green, there is a cosiness with interviews seen in programmes like the 'One Show'. The chat show format is popular and can be used by Oscar hopefuls to promote their latest movie, or popular authors to encourage us to read their new blockbuster. On 'sofa TV' there can be a variety of guests who can, hopefully, interact and share their stories. The late-night schedules of the major TV stations in the United States are filled with this type of show with hosts like Seth Myers, Jimmy Kimmel and James Corden welcoming A-list celebrities from the arts and politics. It is essential that hosts of these types of shows do not dominate—they need to control situations so that they almost fade into the background, asking key questions that elicit a response from their guests. The format is also popular in daytime television as well as can be seen in shows like 'Loose Women', 'Oprah' and 'The View'. The job of the interviewer is to extract as much evidence as possible from their interviewee—though, as masters of the art such as Michael Parkinson and Terry Wogan have told us, some celebrities just do not want to reveal anything. In these islands, perhaps the most popular shows are the 'Graham Norton Show' (BBC), 'The Late, Late Show' (RTE), and 'The Jonathan Ross Show' (ITV). They follow the same format enjoying a chat with a variety of celebrities, with musical interludes. Sometimes the host is in total control, while some shows allow audience participation, even encouraging viewers to phone in from home. These programmes are so popular because we are able to find out more about those who are our heroes and those we look up to.

Guests on these shows vary from the great and the good to ordinary people who have done the extraordinary. While nothing of great consequence usually comes from these sofa chats, just occasionally there is a revelation that rocks the establishment, such as Gay Byrne's infamous interview with Annie Casey on the 'Late, Late Show'. As the former lover of the popular Irish cleric, Bishop Casey, and the mother of his secret child, her revelations shocked and divided the Irish nation, preparing the ground for an honest, difficult, but necessary debate, on the power of Irish clericalism and abuse.

This past week another 'first' was achieved by Pope Francis as he appeared on an Italian chat show. We are familiar with the Pope's honesty and openness when he gives his traditional press interviews on the plane back to Rome after pastoral visits. Some have been shocked by his comments, especially in the ways he has accepted those on the margins of our Church. His understanding and embrace of the gay community is especially positive. His responses to the formal questions of seasoned journalists, reveal a man with a deep passion and care for society. Recently viewers of RAI's weekly 'sofa TV' show 'Che Tempo Che Fa' were treated to an hour of chat with the Holy Father. Host, Fabio Fazio spent an hour with the Pope chatting over a series of issues from the Refugee Crisis to the Pope's musical taste and his clandestine visit to a Roman record store.

On the issues of the day, the Pope responded with a deep pastoral concern. On the scandal of the refugee boats, he called for the governments of Europe to respond positively and to see if they can accept more, as they build bridges instead of walls. His response to the Ukrainian crisis was to strongly condemn, as you would expect, any support of military build-up and war. As with all good 'sofa TV' Fazio was able to help viewers see a personal side of the Bishop of Rome: we discovered his love of classical music and the Argentinian tango. He told viewers of his ambition, as a child, to become a butcher because he liked the money belt his local butcher wore. We saw his humanity as he spoke about loneliness and his need of his 'few but true friends.' Pope Francis once again shows that he is not afraid to reach out, and work with people of good will. It would be lovely to think that the Pope could be a guest on a popular Friday night chat show in our own islands: it is his way of spreading the gospel message in a new and exciting way. Jesus was not scared to try different ways of evangelisation: he accepted meals out with pharisees and public sinners—he was at home in the synagogue in Nazareth as he was in the home of Martha in Bethany. All of us are caught up in the ministry of evangelisation, and most of us will be do so through our example. As St Paul VI reminds us that the Church must walk the walk, not just talk the talk:

Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses. (Evangelii Nunciandi 43)

Some, especially the vocal critics of the Holy Father, will condemn this chat show appearance as a dumbing down of a papacy that should be remote and mysterious. Others will hail his Sunday night outreach as a way to speak honestly to millions of people who did not go to church that day. In talking to RAI viewers in a simple, unassuming way, we will never know the good that can be done and how many might be prompted to return to church next week. As a pastor I sometimes wondered if I did more good meeting people over the frozen peas in Aldi, than hours of preaching in a church. Pope Francis is offering us an example of honest availability that is needed especially as we return to a needed level of normality. In signing off at the end of the programme, Pope Francis simply asked his viewers of faith to pray for him and to those who do not pray, 'at least send me good thoughts, I need the closeness of people.' That simple message is something that we all need: I pray today that all of us feel the genuine closeness of needed family and friends. It is that friendship and love that is not manipulative or selfish. As the mystic, Thomas Merton reminds us:

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

Authors: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB
Image: John-Mark Smith on Unsplash