I think paying of the Pope's visit is perfectly reasonable as he is a head of state who also represents, to some extent, one thousand million Roman Catholics on the planet.
If we could work out how many pounds sterling in taxes Roman Catholics have paid over the last few hundred years I'm sure there would be enough to cover it.
I'm lapsed and not defending anyone. I just think to look at the Pope solely through the eyes of this tragic and appalling history of child abuse scandals is, however shocking, a bit limited.
The church is in trouble and has overseen and been responsible for bad things. But it's an ancient organisation and moves very slowly. I'm not defending anything I'm just arguing for a broader historical view.
The west is too quick to look at the RCC in terms only of contraception, clerical celibacy, patriarchy and the horror of the history of clerical child abuse etc. These things are massive and present and some are indefensible.
BUT these on their own do not describe the whole RCC, there is good within it and it's a massive support and network of people who are not all bad. The Pope means a lot to a lot of British taxpayers (not all of course) and I think they deserve their spiritual leader to come.
I think this outburst is partly empowered by deep rooted and subconscious Anti-Catholicism which runs old and deep in the UK, perhaps understandably but imo out of date and pretty nasty. My fil says "Catholic" as other people might say "Bastard!" or "Dirty pig!"
I think it's offensive and it shows a real prejudice and a lack of self-knowledge. People wouldn't express racism at happily as they do this.
And no I DO NOT defend any abuse of children OR the cover up of such abuse. That is indefensible of course. I just see the church as bigger than just his terrible crime. I think the perpetrators of child abuse have filled many of institutions who have access to children and probably to an extent still do. No one in my experience is more shrewd or manipulating than a paedophile.