Pope Francis attracted seemingly endless news coverage during his week-long visit to the United States, and the head of the Burlington Diocese had a role in mediating that coverage. Bishop Christopher Coyne traveled with the pontiff's entourage as one of the media coordinators.
Vermont Edition spoke to Bishop Coyne about the media work he did while on the road and got his reflections on the papal visit.
On the role Coyne played
"I was with the U.S.C.C.B., which is the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. I was with their communications people dealing with the over 8,000 accredited media from 650 outlets from around the world," says Coyne.
During the pope's visit, host country bishops are supposed to set up media filing centers and provide media relations work, ranging from live streams to commentaries. The media filing centers for Pope Francis' visit were in D.C., New York City and Philadelphia.
On Pope Francis' address to Congress
During his address to Congress Thursday morning, the pope emphasized that he was primarily there to promote "working for the common good."
"It was unprecedented to have a religious leader speak to both sides of the aisle and to the full Congress, with the Supreme Court justices there. It really was historic for many reasons," says Coyne.
Overall, Coyne thought that the media's response to Pope Francis' speech was "very, very good." Coyne acknowledged that there were critics of the pope's speech, especially when hot-button issues such as global warming were addressed.
"He talked about compromise; he talked about dialog; he talked about respectful listening. Hopefully some of those will land in the hearts of some of those people across the aisles," says Coyne.
On the political use of the pope's words
The use of the Pope's speech to fit a political agenda bothers Coyne.
"He's not a politician. He's going to say things and he's going to do teachings that he believes flows from the heart of his faith," says Bishop Christopher Coyne, a media coordinator for Pope Francis
"As I've said over and over in other places and other venues, he's a man of faith and he's speaking as a man of faith. He's not a politician. He's going to say things and he's going to do teachings that he believes flows from the heart of his faith."
Coyne emphasizes that attempting to define and understand the pope within the political sphere does more damage than good.
On the pope's clergy abuse meeting
Pope Francis held a meeting Sunday morning with victims of clergy abuse. A transcript of this meeting quotes the pontiff as saying, "I am profoundly sorry that your innocence was violated by those who you trusted."
Bishop Coyne was not present at the meeting, stating that there were few people in the room. "The last thing that anybody wants to do is turn any kind of meeting like that into a media event or media circus," says Coyne.
He also notes that from a PR perspective, the meeting should have been held earlier in the week. Not only would it have garnered press attention earlier in the papal visit, but it might have forestalled some of the anger clergy abuse survivors and advocates felt when it appeared the pope would not be meeting with survivors. Coyne says that he and others in the pope's immediate circle were aware that the pope would be addressing victims and their families, but they were not allowed to comment on the details of when or how it would be happening until after the meeting took place on Sunday.
"The pope doesn't do things for public relations reasons, he does it because it's the right thing," says Coyne.
"The pope doesn't do things for public relations reasons; he does it because it's the right thing," says Coyne.
On criticisms of Pope Francis' visit
The pope faced backlash for other appearances as well, most notably after a lunch he shared with homeless individuals in D.C. The New York Times reports that homeless participants, who were pre-screened and selected by shelter staff, were served their meals and then asked to wait an hour before eating so that the pope could bless the meal.
Coyne explains that that the way the event panned out was not how it had originally been envisioned. He says the original stop at the at the Catholic Charities-run shelter in D.C. did not include him having the meal, but rather just a meet and greet. But a heavily orchestrated event leaves the pope open to criticism of putting on a show rather than helping feed homeless residents.
"[The pope] doesn't like to stage things exactly for that reason, but it was something that was brought into the script that we that in many ways was a surprise, but he--you know, he graciously accepted it," says Coyne.
On what Bishop Coyne will bring back to Vermont
"I hope to be able to build on the good will that he's generating right across the board here in Burlington and here in Vermont," says Coyne.
The bishop mentions some initiatives in the near future involving increased work with refugees within the state.
"We're really trying to follow up on the 'Francis Effect' in terms of listening to him and taking the challenge that he's given us to go out to the margins and spread the good news," says Coyne.
