Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain will be a mix of pomp and protest [Ecumenical]

The Times (UK) ^ | 02/02/2010 | Ruth Gledhill, Charlene Sweeney

[Pyro7480]

When Pope John Paul II arrived in Britain in 1982, he famously kissed the ground and declared: “Today, for the first time in history, a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil. This fair land, once a distant outpost of the pagan world, has become, through the preaching of the Gospel, a beloved and gifted portion of Christ’s vineyard.”

He went on to preach in Canterbury Cathedral and during the visit became friends with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie....

But that was in a different century, and that Pope and that Archbishop are dead.

This Pope will walk into a storm of protest. Secularists are already planning a series of marches against him wherever he goes. The National Secular Society will launch its Protest the Pope Coalition later this week.

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, is among those planning online petitions against the visit....

Pope Benedict XVI will fly straight from Rome to Edinburgh on September 16, where, as a head of state, he will be received by the Queen at Holyrood Palace in the afternoon. He is due to see the monarch there rather than Buckingham Palace because the visit coincides with her annual holiday to Balmoral.

He will also visit Glasgow, before making his way south in what is only the second papal visit to Britain since the Reformation and the first state visit.

[Pyro7480]

This tells you how far apart the US and the UK are these days. When the Pope visited here in 2008, the bulk of the protesters were Protestants of various stripes. When he visits there later this year, I bet the bulk of the protesters will be leftists and radical Muslim types, Iain Paisley notwithstanding.

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[Logic n' Reason]

Nah....the vatican (or "papal state") is running out of money.

He's going to the UK to ask for all his monasteries back.

[marshmallow]

I'll bet Muslim protestors will be scarce.

You'll see anarchists, feminists, secularists, leftists and the usual lavender gang. Lots of the latter.

From Damian Thompson at The Daily Telegraph today:

"Incidentally, I’ve just had a look at the way the Times is reporting this story. “Benedict XVI launches attack on Labour’s equality push” is the headline, which is accurate. But Ruth Gledhill also says: “It is highly unusual for a foreign head of state or church leader to intervene so directly in the legislative process of a Protestant state…” That is a silly exaggeration, but very revealing: not only of Ms Gledhill’s curiously paranoid way of reporting anything to do with the Catholic Church, but also of the Times’s anti-Benedict agenda. Expect a great deal of troublemaking from that direction in the run-up to the papal visit."

Take The Times with a grain of salt as it tries to stir the pot over the Pope's visit using Anglicanorum coetibus, homosexual "rights" and anything else which it can get its hands on.

[Pyro7480]

After all, The Times has a “tradition” anti-papism to uphold. :-P

[Bigg Red]

God bless and protect B16!

[markomalley]

Dang, sounds like that "one world religion" isn't working out so well…I thought the general idea was that the Antichrist was supposed to have the majority of the world's people on his side...

 

 

 

 

 

;-)

[NYer]

This tells you how far apart the US and the UK are these days.

And the following CNN version of this absurd story tells you how close the American media are, to their UK counterparts.

Pope wades into UK gay clergy battle

Catholic Ping
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[SevenofNine]

Even UK Guardian hate this idea of Pope going to the UK Yeah he expose all far left in the UK That reason why

[Vanders9]

I remember the day he came. I was watching it, alone, in our university common TV room. Even the Catholics in the hall were absent. I couldn't believe that such a significant event did not attract more interest.

Do you remember there was a by-election going on in Scotland at the time, and one Pastor Jack Glass stood on the platform of "protestant crusade against the papal visit". You're right, there won't be much of that this time. Protestants and Catholics in the UK are increasingly sinking their differences in the face of the common foe - godless secularism.

[Vanders9]

Fat lot of good that will do him. Most of them are in ruins.

[Vanders9]

I for one am getting sick and tired of these rent-a-mob leftist lunatics. They have a right to protest, but they abuse the privelige. They are trying to intimidate and shut everyone else up. Dang it - where do I sign up to coutner-protest?

[Logic n' Reason]

". . . Most of them are in ruins.

You mean the Cistean Chappel is busted????

Dang.

[Vanders9]

The SISTINE CHAPEL is in very good shape, but its in the Vatican, not in England.