Uncle Benny

[poliphilo]

The Foreign Office can grovel all it likes to the Pope, but that leaked memo-  which jokily suggested he might use his visit to Britain to launch an new range of condoms and bless a gay marriage-  accurately sums up what we think of him and his office.  And when I say "we" I suspect that includes a lot of British catholics too.  It's not that we hate him; we don't; it's more that we regard him with a kind of amused distaste.  He's our shuffling, exasperating, slightly unwholesome Uncle Benny. The FO has issued a grovelling apology, but you can't take back a thing like that. Hatred would be easier to deal with- hatred can be turned around-  but no-one ever recovers from the perception that they're funny.

Comments

[petercampbell.livejournal.com]

"He's our shuffling, exasperating, slightly unwholesome Uncle Benny"

Not only that but he just LOOKS downright evil, like an overgrown gremlin that's found refuge in a cassock.

These days if they're not hostile, most people are just indifferent to the Pope. It'll be interesting to see what sort of reception he gets when he arrives in this country.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, he's a gift to the cartoonists.