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.

[Verginius Rufus]

The King of Spain is a Catholic, but Queen Sofia is from the Greek royal family. Did she convert or is she still Greek Orthodox? It wouldn't matter as far as this convention goes.

[Sloth]

We find it too. We study the heck out of it, and generally radiocarbon date it, and often get results well past 6,000 years ago.

Uh, OK. Is this supposed to interest or surprise me?

So, you aren't really implying that archaeology "proves" creation and ID, are you?

Not at all. It proves that a common objection to ID, i.e., that it is untestable, is false.

[narses]

"Pope is a religious title unknown to Christianity."

Yeah. Unknown. Except to that vast majority of folks that have remained true to the Apostolic line established by Our Lord. That would be Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christ who chose Peter as Pope. Yeah, and the BILLION plus Christians who still adhere to the truth taught by God.

[ordinaryguy]

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

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

[narses]

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

Rerally? Can you share?

[gidget7]

We can only guess for now. I am sure the MSM is on the case! (not kidding)

Being the state of GB in this day and age, as far as the Church is concerned (worse than the US), I can't imagine why she was invited. I have no animosity toward Mrs. Blair, but her country is more anti Christian, culturally bankrupt, a immoral sewer really, than the US is. Maybe to encourage her to help change it?

[narses]

"We aren't talking about history, we're talking about Christianity. The office of "Pope" or "Vicar of Christ" is a late invention. It didn't exist at the time of Christ. It was not ordained by Christ. It had nothing whatever to do with the ministry of the Apostles. And it is nowhere in the Christian Covenant."

Your ignorance is manifest. Are you interested in learning?

[ordinaryguy]

Rerally? Can you share?

Share what?

[gidget7]

While all you say may be true, depending on your opinion, it is the Churches custom, and thus they have a right to it.

How big a hardship would it have been to wear the customary black?

None.

[catholicfreeper]

She converted
On May 14, 1962 she married Don Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón Dos Sicilias, Prince of Spain and the future king, whom she met on a cruise of the Greek islands in 1954. In doing so, she relinquished her rights to the throne of Greece and converted to Roman Catholicism from Greek Orthodoxy. The couple have three children: Infanta Elena born December 20, 1963, Infanta Cristina born June 13, 1965, and Prince Felipe born January 30, 1968.

She was born in Athens, Greece on November 2, 1938, the eldest child of the King of the Hellenes, Paul I (1901-1964) and his wife, the former Frederika, Princess of Hanover (1917-1981). Both her parents were descendants of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and despite her country of birth, the family tree on both sides is almost exclusively German and Danish in origin. The Greek royal house is a cadet branch of the Danish royal family of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which is itself a branch of the House of Oldenburg. Her brother is Constantine II of Greece and her sister is Irene of Greece.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sof%C3%ADa_of_Spain

[Oztrich Boy]

I wonder who the idiot was who let her make this blunder.

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

In her mind, she is.

[The Cuban]

What does kneeling in front of someone have to do with the Bible? People who are knighted do it all the time.

[Quix]

Straining at gnats and swallowing camels?

majoring in minors and minoring in majors?

[Oztrich Boy]

The Pope is a recognized head of state and as such there is recognized protocol.

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.

[InvisibleChurch]

Gee, I hope the pope didn't care. Tradition may be important but isn't worth belittling someone over.

[narses]

The PATTERN man, the PATTERN. You allege that Islamic terrorists share a PATTERN with Christians.

Share baby, SHARE!

(To refresh your memory, you said: "The Islamic convention is that females should wear certain headdress too. I detect a pattern here.")

[Oztrich Boy]

Well, she is Catholic and she is the British equivalent of "First Lady",

No she isn't, She's just a lawyer with delusions of granduer.

[ordinaryguy]

You allege that Islamic terrorists share a PATTERN with Christians.

That wasn't my allegation, but if you are having trouble deciphering the pattern I was referring to, it doesn't surprise me that you are also having trouble with this.

[lastchance]

Worse yet, Did she also committed the fashion crime by wearing white shoes before Memorial Day and after Labor Day?

[William Terrell]

Dress code? Did Jesus ever give a crap what anyone wore? Come on folks, we're talking each human being achieving communion with the Holy Spirit within the power of a group. That same Holy Spirit sent all of us down here in our birthday suits.