Papal Visit

RTÉ News recently reported the confirmation of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the UK later this year.

On February  1^st, it was reported that the Pontiff would be paying at least a 4 day visit to the UK on September 16^th, travelling to Scotland on September 19^th before returning to the Vatican. The news article entitled “Pope Benedict to visit Britain” said that the revelation came in an address to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, marking the end of their pilgrimage to Rome.

“In a speech to the bishops, the Pope spoke of the 'living faith and devotion' among Catholics in England and Wales, highlighting the recent visit of the relics of St Therese and the forthcoming beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman.”

Great.  I wouldn’t usually be interested in this kind of article but it is news and should be reported. The article was almost celebratory in its writing, ending with a quote from Cardinal Seán Brady conveying his best wishes to the bishops, priests and faithful of England and Wales on the “wonderful news” announced that day on the Pope’s visit to Britain.

But why Britain? Why is he visiting a country which has, for centuries, been traditionally Protestant? A country which has never been above 20% in terms of its Catholic population, which is dwarfed by our historic usual figure of 90% or more. Even as of the 2006 Census the percentage of Irish people who were Catholic stood at a very generous 87%. It may be a bit of a fib but no doubt it’s something for the Vatican to boast about.

So why is the Pope choosing to visit a country where anti-Catholicism was present for many years, since the Act of Supremacy of 1534, which stated that King Henry VIII was “the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England” to today’s tradition of burning effigies of the Catholic, Guy Fawkes on November 5^th. 

Now, granted, it’s more of a tradition without hateful connotations today, without a “feckin’ Catholics” mentality (They wouldn’t say “feckin’” anyway but you get what I mean). Just a tradition, albeit one with clear anti-Catholic origins. In a town called Lewes in England every year they still burn an effigy of the Pope on Guy Fawkes Night, amidst anti-Catholic slogans and chants.

Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t care that this takes place; I think the world would be much better off without inevitable religious divisions. But it still makes me wonder why the Pope chose to visit the UK rather than Ireland. In my eyes he’s nothing but a coward, ignoring our country when we’ve just emerged from the darkness and shone a much needed light on our dark and shameful past, with the publication of the Ryan and Murphy Reports.

I won’t give my full honest opinion in detail here as it would involve all sorts of swear words and spelling mistakes for which Tom would be at me, but you understand my stance on the organisation of the Church as a whole.

Now, as if this wasn’t enough, I noticed the next day, RTÉ had published another article on Pope Benedict. On February 2^nd, an article entitled “Archbishop defends Popes comments” was published. The article concerned the Archbishop of Westminster defending the Popes right to speak out against the British Government’s Equality Bill. Apparently Roman Catholic bishops are afraid the Bill could end the right of their church to bar gay people and transsexuals from senior positions.

The article says:

“Speaking to a gathering of Catholic Bishops of England and Wales in Rome yesterday, Pope Benedict said he thinks that the bill is unfair” and that he “said the Bill could impose unjust limitations on religious freedom.”

The irony here is delicious. The Pope commenting on an Equality Bill designed to improve the welfare of Britain’s citizens, when he himself has failed to account for the welfare of those who have fallen victim to the abuses in the Church for decades. Forget the elephant in the room; the elephant’s so big that it’s burst through the entire house. You couldn’t make it up.

However, my issue here is with RTÉ’s reporting of it. Why did they not include some of the Popes comments the day before, on February 1? Is this biased reporting on the part of RTÉ? The first time we hear about the comments are on the next day when they report that the Archbishop of Westminster is defending them. Very odd indeed.

I wonder if they’ll sing “God Save the Queen” at some stage during the Pope’s visit next Autumn. “God knows”, he didn’t save our children.

“Peace”

NK

Links: 

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0201/pope.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0202/pope.html