However with around four weeks to go before the Pope arrives ,the Catholic Church has a £2.6m shortfall in donations needed to pay for the visit.To date the Catholic Church in England, Wales and Scotland has raised just £5.1m the majority – £4m – coming from wealthy private and corporate donors. Just £1.1m has been given through individual collections at Mass – the equivalent of £1.27 for each regular mass-going Catholic.
What does this say, well it says to me that £8M plus for Pope Benedict's visit is scandalous.with so many in dire poverty in Catholic countries. Surely this money would be better spent. How much do countries raise in total each year for these visits. Surely the Vatican can bankroll these and take the pressure off.
I also wonder if all the scandals around pedophile priests has had an effect
8 comments:
Tragically the truth is even worse VM. The total cost of the Pope's visit is estimated to be £15m, pluss the cost of security. Only 7m is being paid for the Catholic Church with the magority of the money being paid for by us.
This at a time when public funding is being cut to the bone, the poorest and most vulnerable in society are being targeted and hundreds of thousands of others are about to lose their jobs and homes.
Whenever anyone challanges this the government supporters whine 'but we MUST cut the deficit.' Spending a fortune on this dreadful man's visit just shows how hollow this claim is.
It is Baffling why it should cost so much for the Bishop of Rome to visit the UK.
I used to get a week in Rome for 600quid incl travel and pensione
Is he bringing a thousand hangers on with him? Or the Vatican army in tow?
In essence its a tax on each country if they want the self proclaimed 'Patron of the West' to visit. Who's really the patron?
well im not sure where the shortfall of two and a half million is going to come from.The implication from this posting and from peoples comments here is that it is going to be met by the britsh taxpayer when there is in fact nothing to suggest it actually will. I would think the shortfall would indeed be met by the vatican....as one poster says it should.
Although it should be pointed out that the british government has a clear duty to guarantee the safety and security of religous and political leaders when they visit the uk...and the pope certainly could be described as a religous leader whatever some people appear to think of him. He is after all the leader of the uk's 5 million catholics.
a truly 'dreadful man' is tony blair - a war criminal who is in part responsible for the deaths of many thousands of innocent civilians in iraq. It costs the british taxpayer six million a year to protect this war criminal. The catholic church to its eternal credit i feel did of course oppose the illegal war on iraq.
Leigh Richards
Well I think we could manage without his visit.
Hope that hasn't upset anyone!
Maggie X
Nuts in May
Would be cheaper to bus people who want to see him over to Rome
Yes, I think the Vatican should pay.
Well I'm glad the Pope is paying a visit. As L Richards says, he respresents 5 million Catholics in the UK. He also has hundreds of millions of followers world-wide. There are a lot of nutters out there who would like to harm him so I have no problem with paying for protecting him. And I come from the Welsh non-conformist tradition in case someone asks. The one problem I have with his visit.....is that he isn't coming to Wales.
If he wants to come - get his rich people and followers to pay
Would people be as less crtical if it was the big cheese from the Muslim church
Can you imagine that.
There isnt 5 million catolics in britain thats for sure
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