Babylon
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 5, 2009
- 1,332
- 82
pa.press.net, Updated: 15/09/2010 18:49
:sleepy:
AP
An aide of the Pope has pulled out of his UK tour (AP)
A cardinal due to travel to the UK with the Pope has pulled out just days after claiming Britain was like a "third world country".
German-born Cardinal Walter Kasper, 77, was to make the trip as part of the Pope's entourage.
Vatican officials have reportedly attributed the change of plans to ill health.
But the news followed an interview the Cardinal gave to German magazine Focus in which he commented on the Godlessness of a section of English society, claiming Britain was facing an "aggressive new atheism" and that "Christians were at a disadvantage".
Asked about the protests expected to greet the Pope's visit, he remarked on Britain's multi-cultural inhabitants, telling the magazine that someone landing at Heathrow may think they were in a "third world country" as there was such a variety of faces there.
Among the groups planning to protest against the Papal visit are the survivors of abuse by Catholic priests.
Speaking as the final preparations were made for the four-day trip, a group of victims renewed their calls for the Pope to hand over all information on the scandal.
They demanded that Pope Benedict XVI "make amends" for their suffering by going further than offering an apology.
Peter Saunders, survivor and chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: "We need the Pope to say, 'I will hand over all the information I have about abusing priests wherever they are in the world. I will hand it over to the authorities of the countries where these people are being protected'."
The Pope is widely expected to meet child abuse victims during his four-day visit.
:sleepy:
AP
An aide of the Pope has pulled out of his UK tour (AP)
A cardinal due to travel to the UK with the Pope has pulled out just days after claiming Britain was like a "third world country".
German-born Cardinal Walter Kasper, 77, was to make the trip as part of the Pope's entourage.
Vatican officials have reportedly attributed the change of plans to ill health.
But the news followed an interview the Cardinal gave to German magazine Focus in which he commented on the Godlessness of a section of English society, claiming Britain was facing an "aggressive new atheism" and that "Christians were at a disadvantage".
Asked about the protests expected to greet the Pope's visit, he remarked on Britain's multi-cultural inhabitants, telling the magazine that someone landing at Heathrow may think they were in a "third world country" as there was such a variety of faces there.
Among the groups planning to protest against the Papal visit are the survivors of abuse by Catholic priests.
Speaking as the final preparations were made for the four-day trip, a group of victims renewed their calls for the Pope to hand over all information on the scandal.
They demanded that Pope Benedict XVI "make amends" for their suffering by going further than offering an apology.
Peter Saunders, survivor and chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: "We need the Pope to say, 'I will hand over all the information I have about abusing priests wherever they are in the world. I will hand it over to the authorities of the countries where these people are being protected'."
The Pope is widely expected to meet child abuse victims during his four-day visit.