NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

Pope to make historic visit
to Britain next year
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones
Religious Affairs Correspondent

March 14, 2009


Pope Benedict XVI is set to make an historic visit to the UK. The German pontiff will make the first Papal visit to this country in nearly three decades.

It is understood that the historic event is being timed to coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who is on the path to becoming the first British saint for 40 years.

Details of the visit, which will attract crowds of hundreds of thousands of people, are still under discussion, but cities being considered include London, Birmingham, Oxford, Edinburgh, Armagh and Dublin.

A senior cardinal is due to make a private trip to Britain in the summer to make preparations for the Pope's visit, which could be announced by the end of this year.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales will hope that such an event will capture the imagination of the country's four million Catholics, of whom only a quarter now regularly attend Mass.

It could also provide a boost to Gordon Brown with a general election in the same year.

At the same time, the Government has embarked on a major diplomatic mission in an attempt to change the long-standing law banning Catholics from succeeding to the throne.

Sources close to Gordon Brown said that controversial plans to reform the 1701 Act of Settlement are "very much alive" - despite official statements to the contrary.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is overseeing an attempt to secure the backing of all 53 Commonwealth countries, which would be needed before any legislation could be be enacted.

If support can be secured, a plan for change could be agreed at the November meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago, to be attended by the Queen, and the pledge could be included in Labour's next general election manifesto.

There has been heightened speculation over the possibility of a Papal visit following extensive lobbying by the Government in recent years.

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have each extended two invitations since 2007.

Prince Charles is expected to add further momentum to Britain's bid to secure what would be only the second visit by a Pope since Henry VIII broke with Rome to establish the Church of England in 1534.

Relations between the Catholic Church and the Government have been strained following clashes over the introduction of laws enforcing homosexual equality and the Embryo Bill, which paved the way for the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos.

However, secret talks began between the Catholic Church in England and Wales and the Vatican shortly after Pope Benedict's election in 2005, long before Gordon Brown's private audience last month.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, wrote to the Pope in 2006, suggesting that he should come to Britain in 2007 to mark the 25th anniversary of the visit by the late Pope John Paul II.

He proposed that a tour should include a lecture at Oxford University as well as an address to the Houses of Parliament.

The Cardinal was in Rome last week, where he met with Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, and it is likely they discussed plans for a Papal visit.

It has yet to be decided whether the Pope would travel to Britain solely for a service of beatification for Cardinal Newman or whether it would be turned into a tour of the British Isles.

A senior source in Rome revealed that bishops in England are divided over whether the service would be conducted in Birmingham, where his remains are venerated, or in London at Westminster Cathedral or Wembley stadium.

The Pope has privately expressed an interest in travelling to Oxford, having previously only visited Cambridge, and would also be likely to visit Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In a message released last week, he strongly condemned the attacks in Northern Ireland that left two British soldiers and a policeman dead as "abominable acts of terrorism".

"Apart from desecrating human life, [they] seriously endanger the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland and risk destroying the great hopes generated by this process in the region and throughout the world," he said.

"I ask the Lord that no one will again give in to the horrendous temptation of violence."

The Pope would be likely to visit Dublin as well as Omagh or Belfast, the senior source said, adding that there has been a notable shift in dialogue on the issue.

"There have been a number of invitations before, but the language was different from the past. It is no longer a case of paying lip service, but of looking for a time in the diary that works."

The timing of Pope Benedict's visit is likely to depend on the process to beatify Cardinal Newman – one of Britain's most famous Anglican converts to Catholicism.

While the Vatican department responsible for examining the causes of saints is yet to attribute a miracle to the Cardinal Newman, the Pope is understood to have taken a personal interest in his cause.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the head of the department, has already said that would like the Cardinal's beatification – the step before canonisation – to take place very soon.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor has previously said that the British public would be "delighted" if the Pope were to agree to visit.

On John Paul II's tour in 1982, crowds turned out in their thousands to welcome him around the country.

Plans to allow Catholics to succeed to the throne have been backed by senior Labour figures including Jim Murphy, the Scotland Secretary, who has said: "It's wrong to have a settled constitutional position that discriminates."

Any change will be controversial. A petition lodged on the 10 Downing Street website has demanded that the government "keep the monarchy Protestant" rather than allowing Catholics to succeed.

In response a Number 10 spokesman said: "The government has no plans to change the constitutional position of the monarchy, which continues to personify both our national and Commonwealth unity as well as embodying the community cohesion and diversity of which the British people are rightly proud."

This led campaigners against change to conclude they had won a victory. However, a source close to Mr Brown said: "This plan is still very much alive.

"The reason for the [No 10] statement is that that is the current position. The problem in getting a change like this is that you can't just review it and then announce plans to legislate.

"You have to get every Commonwealth country to agree as well. That is obviously an exhaustive process."

A spokesman for the catholic bishops' conference said: "The Catholic community in this country would greatly welcome a visit from the Holy Father.

"There is an awareness that there are a number of invitations that have to be considered and it will depend on the Papal diary."


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March 14, 2009

Pope to make official UK visit
by Isabel Oakeshott
Deputy Political Editor

March 15, 2009


THE POPE is preparing to make a historic official visit to Britain.

Sources at the Vatican have indicated that Benedict XVI is ready to accept an invitation from Gordon Brown to come to the UK. It would be the first state visit by a Pope to Britain and could take place as soon as next year; September 2010 is considered the likeliest date.

Unlike John Paul II’s ground-breaking visit in 1982, which was “pastoral” and did not involve going to Downing Street or meeting the Prime Minister, the event would be a full state visit, with the Pontiff addressing both Houses of Parliament at Westminster.

It would include the dramatic spectacle of the Pope addressing MPs and peers in Westminster Hall, where Sir Thomas More was condemned to death in 1535 for opposing the Act of Supremacy.

The act made Henry VIII “supreme head” of the nascent Protestant religious group the Church of England, signalling a split from Rome. Benedict XVI would also meet the Queen on his visit.

The Holy See has yet officially to accept Brown’s invitation, which followed similar invitations by the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who converted to Catholicism after leaving office.

However, a report published in The Sunday Telegraph today claims he may do so as soon as next month. Last night Downing Street confirmed that the Vatican had given a “very warm” response to Brown’s invitation.

A No 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is obviously very keen and has invited the Pope to visit all parts of the UK. The Pope’s spokesman at the Vatican was very positive about the possibility.”



Benedict to follow
John Paul II to Scotland
By Christopher Claire

March 15, 2009


THE Pope is expected to visit Scotland for the first time in almost 30 years, it was reported last night.

A formal invitation from Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy to incorporate a trip to Scotland into a visit to the UK is understood to have been accepted by Pope Benedict XVI.

The first papal visit to Scotland since 1982 is expected to take place in September next year, although precise details are being kept secret for security reasons.

The Pope's visit to the UK will be timed to coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a Roman Catholic priest who died in 1890, who is on the path to becoming a saint.

A team of officials from the Vatican are expected to fly to Britain in the summer to make plans for the historic visit, which is only the Pope's second tour of the country since the Reformation.

The 81-year-old Pope is likely to take in Scotland and Northern Ireland during his visit to the UK, which has been in the pipeline since Tony Blair was Prime Minister.

The Pope's visit will be a major boost to the Catholic Church in Britain, which has around four million members.

The Pope was invited to Scotland by Murphy, who spoke to Prime Minister Gordon Brown about extending an invitation to the Pope to come to the UK, which Brown had made during a meeting at the Vatican.

Plans for a possible visit have been discussed for years between the Vatican and the Catholic Church in Britain.

In the months before the visit, the Prime Minister will press ahead with moves to reform the Act of Settlement, which bans Catholics from succeeding to the throne, in a move which is likely to appeal to Catholic voters.

The last Pope to visit Scotland was Pope John Paul II, who made a six-day trip to the UK in 1982. His appearances included a Mass in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow attended by about 300,000 people.

The current Pope's planned visit to Scotland will be one of his first international tours. He has made just one official visit, when he returned to his native Germany in August for an "apostolic voyage".
[That is wrong. All his foreign trips so far have been official visits as well, in that each time, he was also invited as Head of State by the host country's government.]

The Pontiff is also due to visit Cameroon and Angola later this month, with a trip to Israel scheduled for later in the year.


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What follows is a curious news item. I don't have time just now to trace other sources. But who is Thomas J Reese and what does 'US Vatican representative' mean?


Benedict-Obama meeting
being arranged for April?



Rome, March 15 (dpa) - The Vatican and Washington are in the process of organizing a meeting of Pope Benedict XVI with US President Barack Obama, Italian media quoted US Vatican representative Thomas J Reese as saying.

It is possible that the two leaders would meet during Obama's first visit to Europe on the occasion of the G20 summit in London in April, Reese said in an interview on Italian television.

According to the Ansa news agency, the Holy See has unofficially confirmed the proposed meeting.

The Vatican has criticized the new President on his administration's policies on abortion and stem cell research.

[Not that a meeting will change Obama's set views on that, in any event!]


There's something clearer now, and more definite on this:

No request has been received so far
for a meeting with the Pope,
says Fr. Lombardi



VATICAN CITY, March 15 (Translated from Apcom) - "At the moment, we have not received any request from the President of the United States to meet the Pope," said Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican press director today.

In an interview with Lucia Annunziata on the program 'In mezz'ora' on RAI-3, the Jesuit Thomas Reese hypothesized on a possible meeting at the Vatican, because President Obama willl be in Europe from March 31 to April 5 for a G20 summit.

Fr. Lombardi also pointed out that the new US amdinistration has yet to name a new ambassador to the Vatican to succeed Mary Ann Glendon, who was President Bush's last ambassador.

Another possible occasion for a meeting with the Pope would come in June when Obama will be in Rome for a G10 summit.

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Well, shame on dpa for reporting a hypothesis made in a TV interview as news - and worse, for identifying the Jesuit Thomas Reese as the 'US Vatican representative'!