CLERIC BLASTS BBC FOR ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIAS

Scotland’s highest-ranking Catholic clergyman, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has accused the BBC of “a consistent anti-Christian institutional bias.” O’Brien, the archbishop of Edinburgh, said in an interview with the London Sunday Telegraph that the BBC is planning to air a documentary, Benedict — Trials of a Pope, that is intended to “humiliate the Pontiff on the eve of his visit to Britain.” He called the documentary, which deals with the child sex abuse scandal within the church, “a hatchet job.” Produced and narrated by Mark Dowd, a gay former Catholic priest, the documentary includes an interview with the Pope’s brother, Georg Ratzinger, who, a BBC press release states, “tells the BBC how his brother has been affected by recent scandals.” The BBC is planning to air hours of live and taped coverage of the Pope’s visit to Britain beginning September 15.