£15m for the Pope's Visit?

[R1Geezer]

That's not he full cost either, ok it's small beer in the scheme of things but when we face years of austerity shold be be shelling out for a visit by the leader of another branch of the wonderful world of total ***? I can't help but feel sorry for the poor sods that follow the religion of paedophiles as they also being asked bump up the collection plates by and extra £3m. Obvious BGB chances here!

[bibblebub]

The roman candles should fork up for the whole shebang.

[joggerjayne]

Well, with any luck, His Holiness will be arrested as soon as he lands at Heathrow.

That should save a bit of the money, which could then be donated to a childrens' charity.

[R1Geezer]

The catholic church is'nt short of a few bob, they can pay for their own religious junkets, we should Bill them for security. This goes for any religion.

[LazyGun]

Couldn't agree more. As you have rightly pointed out, the £15-£25M cost to the UK taxpayer is peanuts, but it is the principle of the thing.The official argument as to why the public purse should contribute toward the costs of this trip are that ; - We are only paying for the security, to which any visiting head of state is entitled, and that there are roughly 4 million catholics in the UK who would approve of a visit to the UK by the head of their religion.

Christopher Hitchens has commissioned human rights lawyers to draw up a case calling for the Popes arrest, an initiative endorsed by, amongst others, Richard Dawkins. And why not? Equality before the law etc, and there do seem to be a lot of questions to answer of Ratzingers and the Inquisitions knowledge of and actions towards priests within the catholic church who were sexually abusing children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8614232.stm

[joggerjayne]

Absolutey, LazyGun

The only argument against the Pope going inside for conspiring to pervert the course of justice by hiding peadophiles is ...

"Naah naah naah ... can't touch me ... I'm a head of state"

Well ... he's the head of the biggest paedophile ring in history !

[naomi24]

//"Naah naah naah ... can't touch me ... I'm a head of state" //

This from here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8614232.stm

//Author Christopher Hitchens said he does not believe the Vatican to be a legal state which raises questions as to whether the Pope, as head of state, could claim diplomatic immunity.
He said: "The UN at its inception refused membership to the Vatican but has allowed it a unique "observer status", permitting it to become signatory to treaties such as the Law of the Sea and (ironically) the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to speak and vote at UN conferences where it promotes its controversial dogmas on abortion, contraception and homosexuality."
The group have cited as precedent the recent case of Israel's former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who cancelled a visit to London after a British judge issued an arrest warrant over her alleged involvement with the conflict in Gaza. //

[joggerjayne]

The Vatican is a signatory to the

... ... Convention on the Rights of the Child !!!

Haaaaaaa Haaaa Haaaaaaa Haaaaaa Haaaa Haaa Haaaaa

Haaaaa Haaaaa Haaaaaa Haaaaaa Haa Haa Haaa Haa Haa Haaaa















Haaaaaaaa Haaaa Haaaaaaaaaaa Haaaa Haaaaaaaaaa





LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

[IrishHeart]

Put my taxes towards it I don't mind I'd rahter mine was spent on the head of my church than the head of yours

[modeller]

Who asked him to come here in the first place ? 56 million non-catholics didn't.
On second thoughts I suppose some of our clerics may be in favour, no doubt in the hope of reciprocal junkets.

[OrcadianOil]

Sectarianism's alive and "well" in Britain, isn't it? It's a bit rich when you look at some of the world leaders who have been allowed state visits, some shady characters indeed and we've never had similar outbursts.

I don't remember the Italians being up in arms when the Queen's visited the Vatican several times in the past? So why should there be an outcry against this state visit?

[Ankou]

£15m isn't small money, well maybe in football transfer terms, but its a big wedge. all our taxes go into a pot and it is spent however the state sees fit, the only real say we have in that is at the elections. so we are not paying more money, that money would have been spent anyway perhaps on far worse things.

anyhow, i don't mind the pope visiting. i think it should be a pastoral visit rather than a state visit though.

[jno]

it's about 20p from everyone, isn't it? I'd rather it wasn't spent on him, but what do you want - a referendum on every proposed state visit to see if people object or not?

[rowanwitch]

Pity he couldn't bring some of the vatican art treasures with him so a special exhibition could be held to coincide.... I wonder which would draw the bigger crowds

[Ankou]

isn't that a bit like asking sarkozy to bring the contents of the louvre when he visited a couple of years back ? not sure what that would achieve, except more cost for more security.

[jake-the-peg]

Ankou - £15M is very small money

It's 0.0025% of the UK Tax take

as an equivilent if you earned £50,000 a year that would cost £1.25

[Ankou]

so the popes visit is costing peanuts in the grand scheme of treasury coffers.

i don't disagree with that, but it seems the op is about the cost, i assumed the "outrage" was about the cost.

[youngmafbog]

No the outrage is because we pay anything at all. They want to visit their 'flock' then they should pay.
This should be the same for ALL religions. And no we dont need a reforendum to say we are not paying for religious leaders.

[dinsdale]

This is a topic i feel stongly about.

The pope should have to pay his own way.

As one of the many people who were born and then "babtised" into the catholic faith without my consent, i say F**k off to it.

once i reached an age i had the ability to think for myself and look at evidence!

I will fund the plane ticket for the pope, and the police,
just those police will be waiting to arrest him for crimes aginst humanity, (hiding child fiddlers, condoms in africa, womens rights, homosexual rights, stem cell research, etc)

the pope can simply be forgotten as a result of an age that didn't know any better!!!!

[Ric.ror]

cheap at half the price
I have already booked the week off

[Ric.ror]

I have said it before and I will say it again - scratch deep enough and we are all a little bit racist aren't we