(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

I feel that I'm being a hypocrite, since I would agree with some of the Blair decisions which have been suggested as cause for Our Dear Leader (rtd)'s stand up knock down fight free and frank exchange of views on delicate subjects with the Pope†, though by no means all of them - the war with Iraq being the most obvious instance. But my primary reaction has been (a) glee and (b) fangirling Benedict.

Maybe it's just the thought of Blair being called on his sanctimoniousness; the Guardian's insinuation that by converting now he has taken some sort of courageous decision to put faith before politics particularly annoyed me. Had he been going to do that, he'd have done it years ago.

† Do you think they've got the blood stains out of the Vatican carpets yet?

Comments

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I knew that Blair was going to see the Pope, but I thought it was going to be some mutual back-slapping session. I didn't realise he was in for a carpeting! What happened?

[tree_and_leaf]

I didn't realise he was in for a carpeting!

Neither did Blair, I suspect.

Goodness alone knows what the row was about, but as the Observer points out. it's quite unusual for the Vatican to use language suggestive of meetings being disharmonious, so it must have been quite some dust-up.

[sacred-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

For me, it was one of those fights when I just wasn't sure who I'd prefer to lose. (Though I did get a smug satisfaction from the thought of Blair 'I did what I thought was right' coming up against Benedict 'No, I'm the Pope, you do what I think is right' (WARNING: crude RC stereotype))

Is the Guardian calling it a courageous decision? Because if anything, it looks rather convenient to me - being a Roman Catholic and Prime Minister could cause all sorts of headaches (see, for instance, the latest hoo-hah in... Australia? about denying communion to politicians who 'support' abortion)

[lilliburlero.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the Northern Irish business. I'm not sure what Ian Paisley might have made of a British PM who was a fully signed-up card-carrying left-footer. In terms of the coverage, I'm not sure which is getting to me more: the constant unqualified references to Disraeli's Jewishness, or the obliviousness to the fact that "Prime Minister" (as in "never been a Catholic one omg!!!111") is not an office that has existed in its present form since Time Immemorial. RTE invented a couple more Jewish First Lords of the Treasury the other day though, which was kind, if rather batshit, of them.

[tree_and_leaf]

I don't know, but it would have probably involved mention of the Scarlet Woman....

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

.... and not sitting down!

Hasn't Paisley fallen into line now? I do seem to remember reading he'd signed up to the new power sharing wotsit. Or was I dreaming?

MM

[tree_and_leaf]

True. God moves in mysterious ways....

[tree_and_leaf]

For me - definitely Blair, if only because the areas on which I disagree with the Pope correspond fairly closely to the reasons why I am an Anglican and not an RC.

Blair 'I did what I thought was right'</i? Whih, oddly enough, is the archetypal Protestant attitude: "Hier steh' ich, ich kann nichts anderes"

Aargh -posted before I'd finished

[tree_and_leaf]

if anything, it looks rather convenient to me

To me too. Admittedly, it's not easy to make up your mind to change religion, but it's not as if he's risking and disadvantage in the world now...

Re: Aargh -posted before I'd finished

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

Yeah, pretty sure he wouldn't have contemplated it while PM.

MM

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

As someone raised Methodist but now a cheerful atheist, can I admit that I find the Catholic anger towards Anglicans which occasionally shows up to be a little funny in some strange way?

[tree_and_leaf]

It's an odd phenomenon - maybe it's because Anglicans can't make up their mind whether or not they are Protestants? Or perhaps just because they are so disorganised?

(Or maybe they're jealous of our music....?)

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

I dunno, but I've seen some trufax rage at Henry VII/Elizabeth I for being evil and stealing things from Holy Mother Church, various accusations of heresy, etc., etc., that seem a little more fervent than the usual 'Protestants are heretics' line. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

God point _ I"d completely forgotten that line. Coming from Scotland, I tend to forget that although the English Reformation was less untidy and violent than the Scottish, that doesn't mean it was nice.

Though I'm not convinced by the OMG thieving Anglicans line, at least as it applies to parish and dioscesan churches (because there is a continuity in the identity of the national church in England, though I don't suppose that that line of argument appeals to the RC side). The monastic communities have a better right to be disgruntled, but it wasn't the C of E, by and large, who profited from their dispossession.

[greenwoodside.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've liked Benedict this much since he quoted Manuel II...

[tree_and_leaf]

Tactless German academics FTW!