A MAN and a woman correspond for thirty years. They have shared experiences in faith, national identity and outdoor pursuits. He is a priest-cardinal.
She is a married woman and mother. They are friends. He remains celibate and she remains married.
Move on - no story here - except that the Panorama programme thought otherwise because the priest was none other than Pope John Paul II and the woman was an acclaimed Catholic philosopher.
Naturally anything to do with the Catholic Church is fair game for the media. Any slack news day will prove that.
But whilst these letters reveal a degree of intellectual intimacy that may surprise some, why should anyone be surprised that a Pope has female friends?
None of the commentators on the Panorama programme actually said that John Paul II and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka took their intimacy to a physical level but the heightened advanced publicity suggested a sauciness or edge to the correspondence that never really materialised from the letters when revealed.
Clearly Anna-Teresa was captivated by the charismatic Pope but then we all were. Remember his sell out appearances in Phoenix Park, Drogheda and Galway in 1979?
And contrary to the popular belief about secular Ireland, should Pope Francis come to Dublin he would out-sell Gareth Brooks.
The sad thing about the Panorama programme wasn't so much the innuendo but that it missed a point about celibacy too.
Celibacy doesn't mean that priests (or nuns) are not sexual beings. It doesn't mean that they can't have deep, meaningful or even loving relationships beyond sex.
Celibacy doesn't mean that clergy can't have feelings or relationships. Personally speaking, I don't believe that celibacy should be a requirement for priesthood but as a choice it should be respected as such.
Often high profile Catholics express their frustrations with the clerical and hierarchical nature of Church affairs and sometimes they confuse those frustrations with central tenets of Catholic faith.
They want to re-write the rule book to suit modern life.
In some cases they are right such as the outdated attitude towards gay, bi and transgender people. Loving the sinner but not the sin is a bit of a cop out line.
But expecting the Church to rip up the rule book completely is like expecting the Pope to be a non-Catholic.
Allowing married priests would certainly alleviate the human resource problem facing many parishes in Ireland and frankly the concept of lay deacons is a confusing half way house for many Catholics.
That all priests should marry would be to overestimate how many spouses would want to be married to one!
Most people (including this writer) have evolved into a la carte Catholics. We are also ritual Catholics, wanting our children to be baptised, receive Holy Communion and Confirmation, get married and most important of all receive last rites as Catholics. It's like a spiritual life assurance policy.
In Northern Ireland, like other areas, we are also deeply attached to having our children educated in Catholic schools.
My own rituals go further - I carry a miraculous medal in my wallet, a rosary ring on my key fob and holy water in the glove compartment of my car.
However, few of us would make for great martyrs for the faith. We like to wear our Catholicism easily like a favourite old jumper.
In some ways being Catholic is less burdensome than being a Protestant. The rules are imposed from above making it easier to follow, ignore or forget.
No challenging Bible classes, Sunday School or evening prayer. Better still, no laborious, dour hymns with fifty verses.
We also like the pageantry that goes with the bells and smells of key ceremonies because they can frequently relieve the dullness of an uninspiring sermon.
Being a Catholic in the 21st century is not easy. The media often portrays Catholics as lemmings, willing to jump en masse off a cliff when a cardinal cracks his crozier.
Which brings us back to an all too easy story presented in a way to embarrass not the hierarchy but ordinary Catholics. A story packaged and sexed up like a Number Ten security dossier.
Both the Pope John Paul II and Mrs Tymieniecka are long dead. Their lifelong friendship is now tainted for meaningless nudge nudge, wink wink titillation.
The clerics in the Catholic Church have brought much self inflicted wreckage on the institution but for some media types its always going to be the biggest dart board in the world.
