Holy Father to visit Britain
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Pope Benedict XVI confirms apostolic visit; anticipation builds over Scottish
trip
February 5 2010
By Ian Dunn
POPE Benedict XVI has
confirmed he is coming to Britain this year. The Holy Father spoke for the
first time of his ‘forthcoming apostolic visit to Great Britain’ in a speech to
the Bishops of England and Wales at the end of their ad limina visit to Rome.
His statement on Monday
marks the first time the Pope and the Vatican have publicly committed to a
Papal visit to Britain in 2010.
Scottish hopes
Specific dates and
details of the Holy Father’s itinerary, and the time he will spend in Scotland,
have yet to be confirmed but further details may emerge over the next week as
11 members of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland left for their ad limina to
Rome on Wednesday.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien,
president of the conference, said they travelled with ‘a great sense of
anticipation.’
“We will update Pope
Benedict XVI on the work of the Church in Scotland and its place in society and
to assure him of a wonderful welcome when he visits us later this year,” the
cardinal said.
Cardinal O’Brien added
that he intends to tell the Pope of the Scottish bishops’ joy upon hearing the
news that he had confirmed his visit to Britain.
The cardinal will tell
the Holy Father: “We were greatly reassured to hear you confirm in your address
to the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales earlier this week that you
intended to visit Great Britain later this year, we now look forward to your visit
to Scotland in the autumn and assure you of a very wonderful welcome from all
of the peoples of Scotland.”
Archbishop Mario Conti
of Glasgow said: “In Rome I will be carrying the good wishes of the whole
archdiocese, priests, deacons, religious and people and the promise of a very
warm welcome to His Holiness in the carrying out of the plans presently under
consideration, when he visits our city and archdiocese.”
Bishop Philip Tartaglia
of Paisley, president of the bishops’ communications commission, told the SCO
that: “Pope Benedict was definitely going to England to beatify the Venerable
John Henry Cardinal Newman, for whose theological work the Holy Father has a
special appreciation, but it was not definite that he was coming to Scotland,
until Cardinal O’Brien, backed by the Bishops’ Conference, pressed for his
visit to include Scotland.”
Setting the agenda
In what may be a preview
of the themes the he will touch on during his visit, Pope Benedict told the
English and Welsh bishops that, while Britain was known for its belief in
equality, recent legislation here risked constraining religious freedom.
“Your country is
well-known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members
of society,” the Pope said. “Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect
of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose
unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance
with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon
which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is
guaranteed.”
The Holy Father added
that even ‘amid the pressures of the secular age’ he saw ‘many signs of living
Faith and devotion’ among the Catholics in Britain.
“I am thinking, for example,
of the enthusiasm generated by the visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse, the
interest aroused by the prospect of Cardinal Newman’s beatification, and the
eagerness of young people to take part in pilgrimages and World Youth Days,”
Pope Benedict said. “On the occasion of my forthcoming apostolic visit to Great
Britain, I shall be able to witness that faith for myself and, as successor of
Peter, to strengthen and confirm it.”
— ian@scottishcatholicobserver.org.uk
