White outfit, wrong occasion, Cherie (Cherie Blair didn't wear black to meet the Pope)

UK Telegraph ^ | 4/29/06 | Malcolm Moore and Jonathan Petre

[wagglebee]

Cherie Blair provoked surprise in the Vatican and the ire of a Roman Catholic MP yesterday by wearing all-white to meet the Pope, a privilege normally reserved for Catholic Queens.

The Vatican convention is that females meeting the Pontiff should wear black, preferably with a black veil, or mantilla.

	Cherie Blair with Pope Benedict

When the Queen met Pope John Paul II six years ago, she observed the code meticulously.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, wore black, but omitted the veil.

By contrast, Mrs Blair, a staunch Catholic, chose to exercise the "privilege du blanc", usually granted only to the wives of Catholic monarchs.

Her breach of the protocol was surprising, since she has kept closely to the Church's dress code in the past.

Mrs Blair may not have worn a hat to the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales but she mourned the passing of John Paul II in a mantilla.

Technically, only three women should wear white in the presence of the Pope.

They are Queen Sofia of Spain, Queen Paola of Belgium and Josephine Charlotte, the wife of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg. Queen Sofia exercised her privilege in a meeting with the previous Pope in 2003.

Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory minister and a convert to Catholicism, was scathing about Mrs Blair.

"Even the Queen wore black to meet the Pope," she said. "This shows that she has a very grand idea of herself.

"She is a Catholic. She knows what the tradition is when meeting the Pope.

"She obviously thinks she is the first lady.

"My message to her is 'You are not a Catholic Queen, my dear, and you never will be.' "

Mrs Blair was in Rome for a Church-organised conference entitled "Vanishing Youth? Solidarity with Children and Young People in an Age of Turbulence".

She was invited as an expert and remained afterwards for a private meeting with the Pope. A spokesman for the Vatican declined to reveal what they had discussed.

[ArrogantBustard]

We already know everything we need to know about "Mr. Pattern" ... none of it good.

[ordinaryguy]

Tell us, please, THE PATTERN. Go ahead, TELL US.

Um, I already did - in my original post.

Use the time until your summoned posse shows up to figure it out.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Cherie Blair appears not to exhibit the level of class and etiquette for which Britons are so famous. Intentional breaches of protocol this disrespectful are usually perpetrated by us Americans. If anyone was insulted by this episode, it would have to be the real Queen of England.

[Peelod]

frauds use awesome theatre to advance their message.

Careful. You are more than suggesting that the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church is less than authentic.

BTW, Tevya can tell you about tradition.

[little jeremiah]

Modesty in dress, particularly on occasions such as meeting the Pope, is not only traditional but respectful.

One difference between Islamic dress codes and the Catholic head covering tradition is that Catholic women are not beheaded or otherwise corporally punished for transgressing tradition.

[Conservative til I die]

Even Jesus didn't tell His followers what colors to wear(at least it wasn't important enough to be recorded).As long as one dresses modestly ,that ought to be enough.Jesus was not about pomp and ceremony,and the Roman Catholic Church concerns itself too much with appearances and ceremony and too little with preaching the Gospel.

You're obviously not a Catholic, based on the cliched Protestant statements you made. So why not mind your theological business?

PS - Did Jesus have bad manners?

[Conservative til I die]

Also its a matter of politeness.

Yeah, but this is FR, land of Nativists and general crude, rude, big mouthed ogres. No sarcasm intended whatsoever.

[Conservative til I die]

Act 10:25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. Act 10:26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.

Quite a difference between the "first pope" and the ones that followed...

So you equate wearing black to meet the Pope to kneeling down and worshipping him?

Wow, great logic dude!!

[Conservative til I die]

You are comparing your church to government-run schools?

"Hey, the leaders of my church are as upstanding and honorable as government bureaucrats...."

Nice standards you have there.....

Take this crap elsewhere, would ya? Seems you've already been spanked on post #3. On second thought, please please do me the favor of keeping it up.

[Conservative til I die]

Are you kidding me? the color of clothes is a blunder in the Catholic Church? how retarded.

Actually it's a matter of diplomatic courtesy. Not much different than a person being expected to call a Judge "Your Honor" rather than "Hey Larry" or shaking the President's hand rather than hugging him.

[Conservative til I die]

Does all that really make a difference? In the eyes of God, she and the Pope are both sinners.

Is this going to degenerate into a religious debate over the papacy?

[Conservative til I die]

LOL, gotta love it. Reserved for Catholic Queens by backside.. If it were me, I'd have told the Pope he could kiss my little finger. Who does he think he is..

I can tell you what he isn't: a rude, crude, obnoxious anti-Catholic. Give you two guesses who is?

[Conservative til I die]

And that's supposed to impress who? Is this not supposed to be a servant and a lowly shepherd.. Biblically speaking- oh, right, forgot all that nonsense.. And I'm sure it's wrong of me to inject some obvious stuff like that.. Really, who does he think he is. Pope is a religious title unknown to Christianity. It may be known to Catholics; but, that's sorta part of my point.

Yay, it's prostelyzation and polemics time, kiddies! The wicked never do rest, do they?

[Conservative til I die]

The Queen's a classy lady. More than can be said for the FReeper bubba contingent.

[nutmeg]

ping

[Conservative til I die]

Thanks for the pics. I really don't know why people hate protocal and tradition.

Let's get real, they just hate the Catholic Church, and subconcsiously, Catholics. It's the usual suspects showing up and mouthing off as they always do, on every thread about anything Catholic.

It's tiresome, but kind of ironic how much they think about our Church. Almost all-consuming.

[Conservative til I die]

Well, she is Catholic and she is the British equivalent of "First Lady", so, that seems to be the modern day equivalent of a "Catholic Queen".

Actually, when they say "Catholic Queen" they mean it literally, since the "modern day equivalent" of a Catholic queen is actually a Catholic queen (several of them).

[Conservative til I die]

The Islamic convention is that females should wear certain headdress too. I detect a pattern here.

Good grief. I really feel sorry for you.

[T Minus Four]

I feel quite confident the Pope did not care in the least

I heartily concur.

[Conservative til I die]

I will be interested to see the absence of future postings by Freepers complaing about disrespect being shoun to the Office of President of the Ubited States.

Only if he were a Catholic.