Already, it has been filled with controversy - such as one of the Popes senior advisers referring to the UK as a 'third-world country' that is full of 'aggressive atheism'.
Further controversy has surrounded the cost to the country itself for the Popes visit.
Even more controversy is piled up because of the sexual abuse of minors at the hands of a number of Catholic Priests - covered up at the time - and the refusal of a real apology for the horrible suffering of these children.
To sum up: Do you think the Popes visit is a good idea? Is the timing right or wrong? Should he issue an apology to the UK victims of abuse at the hands of Catholic Priests? Should the UK foot the bill for the Popes visit?
Oh, looks like the Pope has made an apology for the 'unspeakable' abuse. I may relent on him slightly. I still despise him though.
He may have said that these were unspeakable abuses, but he doesn't seem to get that this is a problem of the church; for him it is a index veri - meaning that he puts the blame on the 'immoral modern times and society'. He apparently regrets that the church has opened itself to the world in the sixties, thinks it was a mistake; thinks that it was the world that has corrupted his poor little priests.
Before, my opinion on him was just low; now it has dropped to disdain..
I ought to say, I read what I just wrote in an article, but it's in german so I won't post the link; you'll probably read it too if you haven't already.
I've read the interview too. Here is a quick google translate (expect some word salad) for those that can't read German:
Cardinal Walter Kasper is too embarrassed to accompany the Pope to Britain? The British media are in any case after Kasper's interview with FOCUS. A FOCUS interview makes headlines in the UK: Cardinal Kasper's comparison of the island with a land of "Third World" should have led to Kasper, exactly as planned, not the Pope accompanied on his trip to England and Scotland to speculate British media. In the interview in the current issue of FOCUS Kasper had replied to the question of why so many Britons expressed their displeasure with the Pope, "England is now a secular, pluralistic country. . If you land at Heathrow Airport, you sometimes think you had landed in a Third World country, "Kasper said yes also the question of whether Christians would suffer in the kingdom, and said:" Particularly in New England is an aggressive atheism spread . If you are about at British Airways and carrying a cross, you will be penalized. But we want to show our faith publicly. Anyone who knows England knows that there is also a great Christian tradition. Europe would no longer be Europe if this tradition could not keep. "Kasper was referring to a four-year-old case of an employee of British Airways, which had been prohibited, while working a necklace with a cross on her uniform and thus wear visible to customers. The case was controversial at the time in the UK. Speaker refers to health problems became known as Wednesday that Kasper "health reasons
Six people have been arrested and kept for two days before they let them go, simply because they were talking about the popemobil, about how difficult it would be to make an assassination and what if you'd use a shell etc. They were just talking and making fun, y'know, like you do when you're with friends. Their bad luck was that some guy walked by, heard popemobil, shell and assassination and called the police.
I blame the media for flaming with assassination theories.
