To think this pope business is hilarious

[TwatthewWright]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7628752/Ministers-apologise-for-insult-to-Pope.html

He's just a bloke in a dress with some odd and outdated ideas for gods sake!

[TheHeathenOfSuburbia]

Gotta love the telegraph's po-faced take on it, too...

"Many appeared to be deliberately provocative rather than a serious attempt to plan an itinerary for the September visit."

No shit, sherlock?!

[TheHeathenOfSuburbia]

"Oh and maybe just for a 'laugh' maybe Catholics can start making Frankfurters with the image of Mohammad on, see how funny everyone finds that... Not very?"

Um, no, because that would be a really crap joke.

If you make a joke about Mohammed that is actually funny, yes, people may well laugh. Other people may attempt to do you physical harm... but I guarantee none of them will be atheists.

[EricPicklesFatNeck]

spitting image used to do a hilarious pope piss take, everyone is v. sensitive these days

[Lovecat]

I thought it was hysterically funny, and I'm a Catholic. The current pope is a gobshite and I owe him no respect whatsoever.

I'll go throw a few eggs for you if the Ann Widdecombe-alike does show his face over here, Marjorie

[MrsRedford]

The pope is just a man - not a saint or a prophet. I don't understand why anyone in this day and age should apologise for their harmless views.

[bathbuns]

I had a good laugh too.
Outrageous that the Vatican were so incensed when they have far more to apologise for.

Isn't the Pope's visit here supposed to be costing £35 million to the taxpayer or something? (can't remember where I read that). I am totally against the UK taxpayer funding such a visit.

[TheHeathenOfSuburbia]

I see the Mail has run with this on their front page today.

Can't remember what the headline was, but their knickers were so twisted someone could lose a testicle there...

[abride]

The real joke is actually on the foreign office. What a strange collection of people to put on project like this: a non-Christian British Pakistani, a gay and two others, neither of whom are Catholic.

Whatever next? A state visit by the Pakistani president organised by a BNP sympathiser and woman's rights campaigner?

[Sakura]

They have a right to religious belief Strictly, but Britain is also a mainly secular country- pro abortion, pro gay marriage etc, etc and a nation with a wry sense of humour and lack of earnestness.It was a junior civil servant having a laugh.
I thought it was funny.

[abride]

Erm, a 31-year old diplomat, Sakura.

[pagwatch]

I am missing something here.
Forgeting all the political , religious ramifications... the jokes just weren't funny.
Seriously, if a bunch of 16 year olds sat down for a brainstorming session, decided to take the piss and that lame shite was the best they could come up with, I would be seriously disppointed.

I would like the fuckers sacked. We were paying them to come up with jokes that anyone could have come up with in ten seconds.

All the 'i just PMSL' makes me wonder. If you just find mocking a religion hilariously funny then I suppose thats one thing. But please lets not pretendthey were amusing as joke. Right up there with
" haha - a muslim cleric is coming - lets give them bacxon sandwiches - hahaha just PMSL"

Good grief. We used to have a world wide reputation for quality humour. So embaressing

[nighbynight]

No, its not hilarious. Its deeply embarrassing that the Foreign Office is apparently so stupid.

Viewpoint on the BBC:
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8645126.stm

[Lovecat]

The condoms were pretty meh, agreed, but the pope doing forward rolls? C'mon, Pag, that's comedy gold!

[pagwatch]

No Lovecat. I will need to be convinced. You can't just believe this shit because someone tells you ...

[robie]

I reckon someone had waaaayy too much time on their hands. I'm catholic but i'm not in any way insulted.
It's just childish ramblings and has been given a bit too much attention. Whoever wrote it does not have a future in comedy I'm afraid.

[Lifeinagoldfishbowl]

Am not a catholic and I didn't find this funny.

Can imagine people would be up in arms if someone had said this about an Imam who agreed fully with sharia law. It is racist and bigotry.

Yes there has been abuse in the catholic church - which I am not condoning however I don't see why it's ok to slam catholics/christians but no-one else.

[nighbynight]

I have no time for teh pope, but these are just stupid, undignified, puerile, little boy jokes, that make britain look foolish, and are disrespectful to all religions. The pope today, another religious leader or head of small country tomorrow.

I dont think this would have happened except in the current climate of militant atheism, where any religion is to be mocked. And dont even bother to say that atheists respect religions; even on mumsnet there are plenty of atheists ready to come forwards and say that anyone who belongs to a religion is deluded - and deluded people should be laughed at, and not allowed to make important decisions, right?

I bet someeon will come along and say I am an atheist, and I respect everyone, so you are completely wrong.
However, the point is, that all the talk and insults that you allow to pass, or encourage, has created the atmosphere where the Foreign office thinks its OK to mock someone who is both a religious leader and head of a small state, openly.
Lets see some of you broad minded atheists turning round and shouting at people who mock religious people. Or being ashamed of the foreign office.

[StrictlyKatty]

Bravo

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

For those who think it is funny. What if it were the German or French head of state? Would it still be ok for a junior diplomat (and sanctioned by a more senior diplomat) to circulate such a ridiculous, insulting and mocking document that purports to contain ideas for a State visit?

And to circulate it not just as an internal joke (which would be bad enough - its the Foreign office whom are our diplomatic link to the outside world) but to actually circulate around Whitehall and Downing Street is just beyond belief.

[ndavy]

Very, very funny indeed.

Clearly the work of a civil servant with too much time on their hands (mmmm, what are the chances!). It's stuff like this that makes me so happy to be British!

Badkitten - if it had been about a German or French head of state it would still be funny. Heads of State (and the Pope) are only people (gasp!) and can be mocked accordingly! Particularly if you subscribe to outdated and dangerous religious doctrines.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

well all I can say is that you have an odd sense of diplomacy!

[nighbynight]

There are plenty of forums for mocking authority figures. They can be mocked in private eye, laughed at by comedians, and have the piss taken out of them in books and films, on tv, on the internet and the radio. We in Britain have NEVER lacked fors platform to mock leaders!

The Foreign Office is not such a platform, and all the people involved should be sacked, imo. Twats.

[MrsCrafty]

Yeah and if I came on here and poked fun at Islam and said it shouldn't be allowed, I would be banned.

Wow, we have reached a very poor status here in the UK when the national religion, Christian, can be laughed at, but the one which will be our national religion, but no one must speak of, can never be laughed at.

[msrisotto]

But people do take the piss out of mental religious leaders, I don't see anything wrong with it personally, it's a result of the position they apparenty hold. It shouldn't have got out, it's not exactly an appropriate publication for them to make but fuck it, it was a mistake, get a sense of humour - it isn't racist either.

[MrsCrafty]

Like I said, as long as you are only taking the piss out of Christian religions, it's fine because they don't count