Let There Be Lolly

By AM Thursday, September 9, 2010

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The arrogance of some archbishops knows no bounds. Perhaps with their heads so far up one of the universe’s many black holes, they have no appreciation of the world they live in. Given the ignominy heaped upon the Roman Catholic hierarchy because of its global cover up, from the highest authority down, of clerical rape of children, in normal circumstances it would be expected that a touch of humility would be in order. Not so for the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols.

Nichols, who is leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has been telling Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Humanist and whoever else that they should all fork up out of the public purse so that the pope can visit Britain. This flies in the face of the sentiment expressed in a survey by Theos, a religious think tank, which found that 76% of people sampled rejected the idea that the public should cough up the money for the visit on the grounds that the Pope was a religious figure.

Alan Palmer, Chair of the Central London Humanists expressed a secular perspective:

We know that many people are angry that the State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI is going to cost the UK taxpayer a lot of money. Some wonder whether in the current economic circumstances we should be spending millions of pounds to provide a state platform for a religious leader … Clearly many of our supporters are very unhappy with some of the statements made by the Pope in the name of the Catholic Church and Vatican State. This adds to the dismay many feel at our government honouring a Pope whose pronouncements fly in the face of the human rights that we support.

There is no reason that Joseph Ratzinger should not visit Britain, if he can pay his way. There is nothing in his Nazi past to suggest he was involved in war crimes, which would be prohibiting. There are some such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens who have demanded the arrest of Ratzinger on the grounds that he covered up child abuse. Dawkins levels the charge of crimes against humanity. An interesting approach but these things if not carried out with sufficient gravitas can quickly acquire the flavour of a stunt. As is the way with stunts and gimmicks, they all too easily lead those behind them into cranks’ corner from where it is well nigh impossible to make concerns heard above the din of ridiculing voices. As a result the argument can be lost by default.

At the heel of the hunt British citizens are not serfs obligated to carry and keep a clerical class. Ratzinger should fund the visit out of church coffers. No one else should be expected to do it on his behalf. Arguably the Queen who has invited Ratzinger to Britain should open the purse. But that would be forcing the public to pay by proxy. She has made a habit of fleecing the taxpayer over the years so they get you every which way.

Not content with fleecing the British tax payer, an aide to Nichols, Edmund Adamus, added insult to robbery by describing Britain as a ‘selfish, hedonistic wasteland.’ The penance for its sinfulness presumably to pony up for the visit of the man who will help put matters right. The sheer chutzpah of Adamus – not supported on this one by Nichols - is breathtaking. Perhaps the selfish, hedonistic pursuit of boys, much opposed by the British public, has escaped his attention.

An estimated £12 million is to be forked out and Vincent Nichols tells us: ‘this is the leader of probably the oldest international institution that serves humanity in a tremendous way right around the globe.’

The institution in leading by tremendous example has in the words of the body behind the Protest The Pope campaign been busy in:

• opposing the distribution of condoms and so increasing large families in poor countries and the spread of AIDS
• promoting segregated education
• denying abortion to even the most vulnerable women
• opposing equal rights for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender people
• failing to address the many cases of abuse of children within its own organisation.
• rehabilitating the holocaust denier bishop Richard Williamson and the appeaser of Hitler, the war-time Pope, Pius XII.

Maybe there is something in biblical scripture that can justify these categories of behaviour but for people who develop their sense of right and wrong from sources other than the bible, the tremendous way should have a very large ‘no entry’ sign emblazoned across its main access point.