Fallaci and the Pope
September 23, 2006
My father welcoming Pope John Paul II to the United Nations in Vienna.
I’ve been reading a variety of tributes and general articles on the subject of Oriana Fallaci’s death and I can’t help but feel some regret, despite the rabid racism she seemed to develop at a rather late age, a racism mostly limited to Islamophobia and Arabophobia – something which did wonders for the sale of her books after September 11. I had admired Fallaci since I was a teenager, as she seemed to embody all the fantastic traits of the journalist and writer I wanted to become, living a life of danger and adventure, meeting the main characters in world politics and daring to debate them, rather than simply interviewing them.
I read and felt every word of her “Letter to a child never born,” even though I had been (in retrospect) too young or inexperienced to really understand the notions she discussed in that marvellous book. This is why I became so disillusioned with her when her writings became so terribly bigoted. I followed the publication of her “La rabbia e l’orgoglio” (Rage and pride) article in Italian media, and then in Spanish media, wondering when the rage would pick up in English-language papers. It eventually did, but I had already written about it myself.
And the pope in all this? Well, it’s really a pity Fallaci died as the storm around her favorite pope’s recent speech started to gather. Indeed, even though she was a self-professed atheist, Fallaci was quite an admirer of the current pope, and apparently vice versa up to a certain point, which tells you a lot about both of them. As the world reacts to Benedict's speech pretending it was a “gaffe,” which deserves a separate post, he had welcomed Oriana Fallaci in spite of (or perhaps because of) her views and writings. Fallaci then spoke of her "soulmate" Ratzinger and said that if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true. Indeed. As John Hooper says in The Guardian (and I agree), Benedict is just beginning to show his teeth.
There is a marked contrast with John Paul II, of course, who at least pretended to make an effort, as did his Muslim counterparts (Muslim clerics love to pretend all is well in interfaith dialogue). Fallaci did not forgive him for being "too weak with the Islamic world" (what exactly she wanted him to do is unclear). Speaking of John Paul II, and totally off topic, I was digging through some old photos of my father and found a stack of some with the pope. This was John Paul II's first official visit to Vienna (in the 80s), and he came to the UN where Dad welcomed him.
