A Pope in London

A "No Popery" banner outside Westminster Abbey - It didn't say "end sectarian bigotry" on the reverse!

Well Il Papa has taken off from Brummie Airport and the UK is once again a Pope-Free-Zone. Indeed it would have remained so for the past four days if the potent combination of Rent-A-Mob protestors and Christian fundamentalists had their way. This cannot be described as an unholy alliance – half of them don’t want people to be Catholic because they don’t want people to have the freedom of religious belief and the other half doesn’t want them to be Catholic because it is a corrupt, idolatrous perversion of Christianity according to their version of Ye Olde Christian love!




Those Christians, see how they welcome each other!

As an Irish Atheist can I comment that the Papal visit has brought out the anti-Catholic sectarianism which is normally just implicit in UK? This is important because it is the sectarianism which dares not speak its name and is normally disguised with ciphers describing Catholicism as socially backward, reactionary or medieval. Now there are valid arguments to be made on all these points but I don’t see this argument by insulting labels being used against Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc; all of which on the right day could be considered a tad old fashioned. But in the UK media the Pope’s visit was heralded by articles (often by journalists with Scottish names) of a somewhat snide nature and even on Saturday when he was greeted by 200,000 cheering people on the streets of London and 80,000 in Hyde Park the BBC’s coverage ran with “Breaking News” on “Child Abuse” – strange then that parents of all denominations over here fight tooth and nail to get their children into the nearest Catholic School. Joan Smith in the Independent was typical;

“If Joseph Ratzinger wants to pop over to Britain, that's fine with me, as long as I don't have to pay towards it. The Vatican< can surely afford the security costs when its chief executive travels abroad to promote the brand. He is welcome to style himself Pope Benedict XVI, but I don't recognise him as a head of state, and my opinion of his morals is barely printable in a family newspaper.”



No doubt this is a standard paragraph this Australian partner of Labour MP Denis McShane, former Minister for Europe, uses in a number of contexts to save her making an effort to write;

“If Elizabeth Windsor wants to pop over to Australia, that's fine with me, as long as I don't have to pay towards it. Great Britain can surely afford the security costs when its chief executive travels abroad to promote the somewhat dated brand. She is welcome to style himself Queen Elizabeth II, but I don't recognise her as Australia’s head of state, and my opinion of her morals is barely printable in a family newspaper.”




Press outside Westminster Abbey

Despite the relentless media negativity this, the first State Visit by a Pope to the UK, has been somewhat game changing and full of historical resonance. In a departure from normal protocol Prince Philip went to Edinburgh Airport to greet the Pope and he was received by Queen Elizabeth at her official residence in Scotland, The Palace of Holyroodhouse. The last Catholic Monarch to reign at this Palace was a certain Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots. Pilgrims in Glasgow going to Belheuston Park for the Papal Mass had to pass by the Rangers Football Ground at Ibrox Park where singing “Orange songs” used to be part of the prematch rituals and where the restaurant took Eggs Benedict off the menu when Benedict XVI was elected Pope. In fairness to Rangers they are trying to move away from their sectarian past and made their car parks available to pilgrims but Glasgow still has a unique sectarian vibe.




The Billy Boys of Glasgow letting the Teagues know who's boss - Orange March 2008



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/07/orange-march-glasgow.html

When he came to London the British Government did Il Papa proud with the arrangements but security was all pervasive. I saw myself in Westminster light standards and manhole covers being checked and locked days before he was due and whole roads were closed off. At Westminster Abbey Police snipers were on neighbouring rooftops and a search team with 4 sniffer dogs searched the Abbey beforehand. The security levels (presumably reflecting the level of threat) have been high throughout with even the M8 Motorway between Edinburgh and Glasgow closed off when he travelled between the two cities.



He visited the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, originally the seat of the Catholic Primate before Henry VIII's little re-organisation, addressed the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall, the scene of the trial of St. Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, who was sentenced to death for refusing to renounce the Pope. He then went onto Westminster Abbey with the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was refreshing to see good old fashioned sectarian bigotry outside Westminster Abbey with the Bible Thumpers banner proclaiming "No Pope Here." Isn't he lucky, I thought? I can't really understand the emotion, it's not as if the Pope was demanding that the Church of England returns all the stolen goods!!




Pope addresing Parliament in Westminster Hall of the Palace of Westminster


Westminster Abbey


Closed Streets

The Pope’s trip to Hyde Park was even more symbolic. Firstly his cavalcade was taken (for security reasons) into the maw of the Treasury where he changed from his armoured BMW to his equally armoured Popemobile. Then his Popemobile went along the royal processional route of Horseguard’s Parade and into the Mall bedecked with alternate Union and Papal Flags before heading up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park.


The vigil in Hyde Park

There were advance reports of public indifference, in fact over 200,000 people turned out to cheer him on his way and 80,000 were waiting in Hyde Park. This too was redolent with symbolism for at its corner beside Marble Arch stood the notorious triangular gallows known as The TyburnTree where over 350 Catholics were executed over the years. They included St. Laurence O’Toole, Archbishop of Dublin. As well as religious executions many Irish Patriots met their end at Tyburn including Conor Maguire, Earl of Enniskillen.








The crowds in Hyde Park



For aficionados of such things, hanging, drawing and quartering was in a league of its own in what the U.S Constitution calls “cruel and unusual punishment; Until 1814, the full punishment for the crime of treason was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in that the condemned prisoner would be:

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. (This is one possible meaning of drawn.)
2. Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead (hanged).
3. Disemboweled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned's eyes.
4. The body divided into four parts, then Beheaded (quartered).

Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e. the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, in the country, to deter would-be traitors who had not seen the execution.





People forget the discrimination which the Irish, along with other immigrants, suffered even in recent times in Britain and America. It was not uncommon to see signs in boarding houses after the Second World War in England like the one below saying “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.” My Father in Law worked as a Painter / Decorator in the UK after the war and often remembers the dangerous jobs given to Irish and Polish workers on building sites, quarries and factories in the days when safety precautions were non-existent and no protective equipment was issued. He lost the sight of one eye when it was punctured by a sliver of metal when he was using a grinder without goggles. A friend of his was killed by a train while working on the tracks outside Paddington Station, London. His wife was informed by a note left in their letterbox by the Transport Police and she was never paid compensation as she was told it “was his own fault.” When my Father in Law and his colleagues went looking for “digs” when starting a new job he used to have to hang back and let his English friends do the talking, if a landlady heard an Irish accent they wouldn’t get accommodation.


“No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.”

In more recent times the discrimination has been more subtle with Masonic networks, cabals of Evangelical Christians and others looking for similar types as they are made of the “right stuff.” Indeed the sectarian discrimination against Irish Catholics continues with snide articles about “backward attitudes” as witness the guff written about Opus Dei member Ruth Kelly when she was a government Minister. It is hard to think such patronising guff would be written about another minority in the UK without provoking an outcry. The latest engine of discrimination is the ludicrous and self validating equality industry with its shadow quotas for “Visible Ethnic Minorities” which is perpetuating the same syndrome with manager’s icentivised to appoint the “right people” to meet arbitrary ethnic targets. Another factor in the UK is “security clearance” which is used to discriminate against Irish people in government jobs – for instance up to 4 years ago “Irish nationals” were not invited to Buckingham Palace garden parties on “security grounds.” If this is the discrimination we know about what else is there paddling furiously below the surface?



So Benedict XVI’s visit and reception has been a bit of a game changer for the same “King James” Bible the Bible Thumpers thump in its preamble echoes the Law of the Land. In these days of diversity and inclusion we should remind ourselves of a certain institutional prejudice on the part of the British state. The Statute Law of England, in the Act of the Williamite Succession, describes the Pope as “An Anti-Christ and Object of Perdition” – In this of course it is repeating the words of the same King Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up along with his parliament, James VI of Scotland and I of England in his preamble to the official bible of the Church of England, the “King James” Bible. His mummy, Mary Queen of Scots, would have been very cross with him if she had not been beheaded by his predecessor, Elizabeth I.






More seriously, the same act prohibits both the Sovereign or their Consort from being Catholic or the heir to the throne and their Consort. It goes further and says that neither the Sovereign’s First and Second Lords of the Treasury (namely the Prime Minister and The Chancellor of the Exchequer) nor The Lord Chancellor (The head of the English legal system and successor in office of Sir Thomas More) can be Catholics thus institutionalising sectarianism at the very centre of the British state and legitimising the somewhat snide anti-Catholicism still fashionable in some quarters. They of course can be any other religion or indeed none but they cannot be Catholics.


Queen; Greetings, Object of Perdition and Anti-Christ
Pope; Ve are pleased to be here
Prince Philip; Bloody cold here, they don't give us enough money to turn the heating on!

It is not, one suspects that the Royal Family particularly identifies with this sectarianism. The Queen has shown herself immune to such instincts over the years meeting with Popes on several occasions, her husband was reared as Greek Orthodox and his mother became an Orthodox nun, Prince Charles has often signalled that he feels he has a wider brief than as a defender of the State Church of England and a senior member of the family, the widely admired Katherine Kent, has converted to Catholicism with no signs of family disapproval.



So where is the agenda for maintaining this sectarianism at the heart of the British state? I suspect there is no agenda here and it is a bit like the embarrassing drunken uncle at the family wedding, all are agreed it needs to be evicted but are not sure how it should be done.


"Protest the Pope" march, London 18/9/2010

Now I take a personally disinterested view on all this for as an atheist I think all forms of belief in God are delusional (but I could be wrong) but I still find the rank intolerance of Taliban Christians against "false" Christianity offensive and bordering on intimidation. Of course in the past anti-Catholicism and Anti-Irish discrimination went comfortably hand in hand. Still Taliban Christians conform to a pattern;

1. Alpha male preacher who has a direct line.
2. OCD literal interpretation of selective Bible passages.
3. Fallacious prophecies based on the Bible (Rapture and some such nonsense).

I can't remember those nasty Catholics picketing and heckling at other people's religious services and making hugely offensive remarks about their leaders in recent memory? Indeed if they did no doubt the popular media would find it hugely intolerant and offensive, not to mention “un - British” but somehow the Catholic Church seems fair game.


Portrait of Benedict XVI in the Chamber of Popes at the Basilica of Superga, Turin. It contains portraits of all 265 Popes but it must be conceded that the first 40 look very similar!

But what is the reason for the particular venom directed at the Pope and Catholics. Well looking at the dour ranks of Taliban Christians and contrasting it with the impact and organisation of the Pope’s visit I think it is the contrast with the failure of Puritanism in the UK and the success of the Papacy as an institution and Catholicism as a brand. Puritan Christianity was decisively rejected by the British mainstream after the Civil War and the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. Having failed in Britain they took themselves and their Puritanism to America where they found more fertile ground. But like it or loathe it (even supporters give mixed reviews) the Papacy endures as the oldest extant institution. There is no longer a Pharaoh, Caesar, Sublime Porte, Emperor of Heaven and Earth, Caliph or Czar but there is after 2,000 years still a Papacy. Catholicism is still the major Christian “Brand” in Christianity with over a Billon adherents. And as the Pope’s visit showed it is still a strong brand with real influence and reach – modern day governments don’t make the mistake of repeating Joseph Stalin’s taunt “How many regiments has the Pope?”



As for this non-believer I can only repeat the words of John Henry Newman whom the Pope beatified (no I won’t explain as it is one of the more theologically dubious beliefs of the Catholic Church) today in Birmingham, the city where he died and was buried.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/04/birmingham-centre-of-england.html

“O God, if there be a God, save my Soul, if I have a Soul.”