Pope Benedict XVI floored the party leaders during the Sky debate. What will they do when he’s really here?

[amhara]

Judging by the wide eyes and urgent note shuffling, it was a question the party leaders weren’t expecting. “Did they back Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain?”, a member of the studio audience asked (or words to that effect). Well, as Damian Thompson reported last night on the Telegraph’s live blog, none of them floundered completely…

Cameron distances himself from Catholic teaching on condoms and gays but doesn’t buy into the slur on the Pope. Clegg invokes his wife’s Catholicism; calls for healing. Brown says he’s met people who have “rightly” complained about being abused; clunkily put.

But now Gordon is welcoming the Pope forthrightly, much more so than the others. He wants that Catholic vote – he desperately needs it in former Labour strongholds. Cameron back on the subject, waffling about disagreeing with the Pope on “science” and “abortion”. Clegg condemns theology of the Church on homosexuality. No anti-Catholic bigotry on display, but would they be so eager to distance themselves from the far more ferocious illiberal doctrines of Islam? Of course not.

Full: blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100036212/pope-benedict-xvi-floored-the-party-leaders-during-the-sky-debate-what-will-they-do-when-hes-really-here/

 

[martinc]

Fantastic points, well made by amhara.

Agree, heartily agree wirh you.

 

[lutherlic]

But now Gordon is welcoming the Pope forthrightly, much more so than the others. He wants that Catholic vote – he desperately needs it in former Labour strongholds. Cameron back on the subject, waffling about disagreeing with the Pope on “science” and “abortion”.

Interesting, almost funny. I wonder if Cameron has the faintest clue what the Catholic Church position on creation and stem cell research (for example) actually is. [it is a rhetorical question, of course]]

 

[Darryl1958]

I am quite certain that Pope Benedict is both an intellectual of higher standing and more knowledgeable about the state of science than virtually any politician in any country.

He is an academic of the highest standing.

 

[Dale_M]

The actual question the candidates got asked wasn’t exactly neutral:

“If you win the election, will you disassociate your party from the Pope’s protection over many years of Catholic priests who were ultimately tried and convicted of child abuse, and from his fierce opposition to all contraception, embryonic stem cell research, (fertility) treatment for childless couples, gay equality and the routine use of condoms when HIV is at an all-time high?”

theaustralian.com.au/news/world/british-leaders-join-forces-against-pope-benedict-xvi/story-e6frg6so-1225857615621

After a question like that, I can see why the candidates were scrambling for a middle ground.

Here is a transcript of how the three candidates responded to the question:

indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16023

 

[amhara]

The actual question the candidates got asked wasn’t exactly neutral:

theaustralian.com.au/news/world/british-leaders-join-forces-against-pope-benedict-xvi/story-e6frg6so-1225857615621

After a question like that, I can see why the candidates were scrambling for a middle ground.

Here is a transcript of how the three candidates responded to the question:

indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16023

I watched the debate, I couldn’t beleive when that person asked that question, it seemed so out of place with the rest. You could see that none of them where expecting that question either. They where just making up answers on the spot.

 

[Santi2]

After a question like that, I can see why the candidates were scrambling for a middle ground.
indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16023

And, all three would have scrambled more, especially Gordon Brown, if the fiasco at the Foreign Office unfolded earlier than today.

Foreign Office makes apology to Pope after officials’ mock memo about ‘Benedict’ brand condoms

To the fury of Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the memo, **drawn up last month **after a Foreign Office ‘brainstorming’ session, was circulated to officials in a number of Government departments - including the Department for International Development and **10 Downing Street. **From there, it found its way to senior figures in the Catholic Church in Britain and, it is understood, details were passed on to Church officials in Rome

Read more: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268577/Foreign-Office-apology-Pope-condom-slur-mocking-email-storm.html#ixzz0m6XmfGCx