THE QUEEN HAS WELCOMED Pope Benedict XVI on his official visit to England and Scotland. It is the first time a pope has been to the UK since John Paul II’s trip in 1982.
The BBC reports that the Pope’s visit will cost British taxpayers up to £13.5m, including a £1.5m charge for security.
Child Abuse
Speaking on the plane en route to Scotland, the Pope told reporters that revelations of clerical abuse caused him “great sadness”.
He said he was saddened that “the authority of the church was not sufficiently vigilant and not sufficiently swift and decisive to take the necessary measures,” the New York Times reports.
He said the church needed to figure out how to help the victims “overcome their trauma, to re-find their lives”.
Victims of clerical abuse, people who object to the Catholic Church’s stance on condoms and sexuality, and groups calling for the ordination of women, have all turned out in Edinburgh to protest the visit. The Pope may meet with UK victims of clerical abuse over the course of his four-day visit.
Ian Paisley is among the protesters, but says his purpose “is not to stop the pope” but is driven by his belief that it is not possible for a man “to be in the place of God on earth”.
First day of UK trip
The pontiff arrived in Edinburgh today, where he met the Queen. He is due to say mass later in Glasgow before heading on to London. Addressing the crowd, the Pope said:
Today, the United Kingdom strives to be a modern and multicultural society. in this challenging enterprise, may it always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate.
Original estimates of a 100,000-strong crowd were revised and reduced to 65,000 when tickets for the event were slow to budge.
Pre-trip controversy
One of the Pope’s entourage, Cardinal Walter Kasper, cancelled his plans to accompany Benedict after saying in a recent interview: ”Sometimes, when you land at Heathrow, you think you have entered a third world country“. Kasper had also said that an “aggressive new atheism” was rife in Britain.
He withdrew from the trip earlier, citing health problems.
Vatican spokesperson Fr Federico Lombardi said Kasper’s comments were not intended to offend the UK, but he will not withdraw them, despite being asked to do so by Cardinal Keith O’Brien, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland.
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