By Peter Mayer
Boston Herald
September 10, 2010
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/europe/view/20100910vatican_is_not_worried_by_planned_anti-pope_protests_in_britain/srvc=home&position=recent
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| Pope Benedict XVI gestures during the general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010. |
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is not concerned by a "hostile minority’s" plans to demonstrate against Pope Benedict XVI during his three-day visit to Britain next week, the pontiff’s spokesman said Friday.
"It is not surprising because these (protests) have happened before," Father Federico Lombardi said at a Vatican briefing on Benedict’s Sept. 16-19 visit to England and Scotland.
"Such demonstrations have always occurred, also during other (papal) travels, Lombardi said.
In Britain, the issue of protests is "a broader one because in the United Kingdom there are atheist groups, some of them anti-papal in nature, but also this forms part of a plural society like the British one," Lombardi said.
"However the resonance given to these sentiments by the media has been greater than that given to several authoritative surveys which suggest a substantial interest among the (British) population for Benedict XVI’s visit," Lombardi added.
Benedict’s visit is the first papal trip to Britain since 1982, when Pope John Paul II came on a pastoral visit in the year of the Falklands conflict, during which he also visited Argentina.
Some opinions polls have suggested that many Britons are upset about the cost of the state visit, estimated to be around $30 million.
However, Lombardi on Friday stressed Benedict’s trip is a state visit which stems from an invite made to him by the then British prime minister Gordon Brown on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.
The pope "has not imposed himself, but accepted an invitation made to him," Lombardi said.
"It is the norm that for state visits, the host nation is responsible for the costs involved," he added.
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