The pope visits the UK ...

[Lord Jim]

An online poll of 2,005 adults

As I'm sure you're probably aware stoat, "online" polls are not scientific surveys.

[thestoat]

As I'm sure you're probably aware stoat, "online" polls are not scientific surveys.

I am aware of that, Lord Jim. I don't think I said they were? I still find the number interesting - I haven't seen the results of any large polls suggesting the opposite.

[Andrew D]

So I guess all tha vatican needs to do is to get some breeding stock in, let a few naturl born citizens arrive (and with their view on birth control, what else would happen?) and they'd be a state?

Not necessarily. It would still have to have a stable government, which entails being able to maintain effective control over the territory. I am not sure that relying on another or other country or countries satisfies that criterion.

[Gob]

Oh boy, it just gets better..

Pope aide pulls out of trip after Third World jibe

The Vatican said the cardinal was pulling out of the visit solely on health grounds A senior Papal adviser has pulled out of the Pope's UK visit after saying arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a "Third World" country.

Cardinal Walter Kasper reportedly told a German magazine the UK was marked by "a new and aggressive atheism".

The Vatican said the cardinal had not intended "any kind of slight" and had pulled out because of illness.

The UK Cabinet Office said his views were personal and not representative of the Vatican or bishops in the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11317441

[tyro]

"a new and aggressive atheism"

Maybe he was concerned about picking up this super bug in a public washroom.

[Lord Jim]

after saying arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a "Third World" country.

Yeah, but was he wrong?

[Gob]

No. But there's no need to rub it in...

Heathrow, like most UK airports is a right shithole.

[thestoat]

I have to agree. Most UK airports are real shitholes, though they are so superior in comparison to our train system. The only thing you do at UK airports is queue and shop (though in JFK there aren't any shops, so all you do there is queue ). And the train system is the UK is better than the road system. Basically we are doomed.

[Gob]

Quotes you couldn't make up; number 347363943893874...

A speech in which the Pope appeared to associate atheism with the Nazis has prompted criticism from humanist organisations.

However, the Catholic Church has moved to play down the controversy, saying the Pope knew "rather well what the Nazi ideology is about".

Humanists have said the comments were a "terrible libel" against non-believers.

In his address, the Pope spoke of "a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11332515

Well, he was one after all, so he should know...

Father Ted: I'm not a fascist, I'm a priest. Fascists dress in black and go around telling people what to do, whereas...priests... More drink!

[loCAtek]

Reply to AndrewD:

Status in international law
Main article: Legal status of the Holy See

The Holy See has been recognized, both in state practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights and duties analogous to those of States. Although the Holy See, as distinct from the Vatican City State, does not fulfil the long-established criteria in international law of statehood—having a permanent population, a defined territory, a stable government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states[4]—its possession of full legal personality in international law is shown by the fact that it maintains diplomatic relations with 178 states, that it is a member-state in various intergovernmental international organizations, and that it is: "respected by the international community of sovereign States and treated as a subject of international law having the capacity to engage in diplomatic relations and to enter into binding agreements with one, several, or many states under international law that are largely geared to establish and preserving peace in the world."[5]

...The Holy See is also a permanent observer in various international organizations, including the United Nations General Assembly, the Council of Europe, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Reply to Father Ted: Nazi's wore brown clothes hence the moniker 'Brown Shirts' or Sturmabteilung The SS - Schutzstaffel, wore black for a short period before the war but regularly wore uniforms of grey and field clothes of brown..)

[oldr_n_wsr]

11million for a 6 day stay?!?!?!?
What kind of hotels was HE staying in?

[Lord Jim]

Well, he was one after all, so he should know...

Following his 14th birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth — as membership was required by law for all 14-year old German boys after December 1939[9] — but was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings.[10] His father was an enemy of Nazism, believing it conflicted with the Catholic faith. In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was taken away by the Nazi regime and killed during the Aktion T4 campaign of Nazi eugenics.[11] In 1943, while still in seminary, he was drafted into the German anti-aircraft corps as Luftwaffenhelfer.[10] Ratzinger then trained in the German infantry, but a subsequent illness precluded him from the usual rigours of military duty. As the Allied front drew closer to his post in 1945, he deserted back to his family's home in Traunstein after his unit had ceased to exist, just as American troops established their headquarters in the Ratzinger household. As a German soldier, he was put in a POW camp but was released a few months later at the end of the war in the summer of 1945. He reentered the seminary, along with his brother Georg, in November of that year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI

I see no evidence whatsoever that it would be fair to characterize The Pontiff as a "Nazi"....

[Gob]

11million for a 6 day stay?!?!?!?
What kind of hotels was HE staying in?

Same ones as we use when we go back there

[Sean]

Reply to Father Ted: Nazi's wore brown clothes hence the moniker 'Brown Shirts' or Sturmabteilung The SS - Schutzstaffel, wore black for a short period before the war but regularly wore uniforms of grey and field clothes of brown..)

Maybe he was referring to these fascists Loca...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackshirts

[Gob]

Protestors demonstrating against the Pope's visit have taken their inspiration from the 1990s sit com.
One of the creators of Father Ted has said he "couldn't be more proud" after anti-Pope protesters used placards inspired by the sit com.

On Thursday, one demonstrator in Edinburgh carried a sign reading "Down with this sort of thing".

The same slogan appeared on a placard carried by Fr Ted in the episode where the priest and his sidekick, Fr Dougal Maguire, are ordered by their bishop to protest outside their local cinema.

Graham Linehan, who co-wrote the series with Arthur Matthews, used the social networking site Twitter to speak of his pride and also posted links to pictures of the protest.

Father Ted, which was originally shown between 1995 and 1998, showed the exploits of three inept priests living on Craggy Island, off the west coast of Ireland.

In the protest episode, Bishop Len Brennan orders Fr Ted and Fr Dougal to demonstrate outside a screening of The Passion of St Tibulus, a film the church has deemed to be blasphemous.


The placard was reprised for the Protest the Pope demonstration which drew about 150 people to Lothian Road on the Pope's route across Edinburgh.

Mr Linehan, who is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society, also created the sitcoms Black Books and the IT Crowd.

He spoke out when the maximum fine for blasphemy in Ireland was raised to 25,000 euros last year.

The Irish government defended the move, saying it was constitutionally obliged to keep blasphemy laws on the statute books ahead of a planned referendum on the matter.

In an interview with New Humanist magazine, Mr Linehan said: "I suppose every country has odd, silly laws from the dawn of time that no-one ever got around to changing.

"What's unusual here is the attempt to actually bolster backward, backwoods thinking.

"It's very important to smack down every attack on free speech and secularism when they appear, because religious fanatics are getting louder and crazier and more violent, and capitulating only energises them," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment ... print=true

[Lord Jim]

He spoke out when the maximum fine for blasphemy in Ireland was raised to 25,000 euros last year.

That would explains why none of the Irish people I know ever take the Lord's name in vain....

[kristina]

He spoke out when the maximum fine for blasphemy in Ireland was raised to 25,000 euros last year.

That would explains why none of the Irish people I know ever take the Lord's name in vain....

[Andrew D]

Reply to AndrewD:

[blah, blah, blah]

Newsflash: Quoting the very same article to which I had already responded is not a "reply". It is simply a vacuity.

[Gob]

And the meek shall inherit the bill...

The Pope’s visit to Britain came under fresh scrutiny last night after it was revealed that multi-millionaires funded a significant proportion of the trip and were granted a coveted private audience with the Pontiff.

Insiders said the bulk of the £6.5 million raised so far by the Catholic Church to finance the visit came from businessmen including JCB boss Sir Anthony Bamford.

During the four-day visit, many of the donors met Benedict XVI at a series of gatherings, one of which took place just before Mass at Westminster Cathedral.

Costs for State events during the visit, including the Pope’s meeting with the Queen, were met by the taxpayer, but the Catholic Church was faced with a £10 million bill for staging religious events such as the Hyde Park prayer vigil.

The Church still needs to raise another £3.5 million to cover this bill and it is set to approach many of the donors again to see if they are prepared to make up the shortfall.

A national collection in the parishes earlier this year raised only about £1 million. Catholics last night voiced their unease over the need to raise money from businessmen. One insider said: ‘It is always an uncomfortable place for the Church, cosying up to the rich.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z10b11fXol

[Andrew D]

One insider said: ‘It is always an uncomfortable place for the Church, cosying up to the rich.'

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