Secretary of Sheffield Humanist Society, Mike Granville, challenges local Catholics to defend the Pope’s state visit.

You recently published a letter from me in which I pointed out that the cost of the Pope’s visit to the UK in September may come to £20M.

My concern is that a very large part of this cost will be borne by all of us, UK taxpayers, although we have no interest in the visit.

The Pope’s visit has the status of a ‘state visit’ because the Vatican claims that it is a sovereign state.

Since my previous letter, I have learnt that voices have been raised in Scotland, where a major event is being planned, saying that the scale of event could be much higher – possibly on a par with the G8 summit, which cost £72M to police and protect.

After a similar Papal visit to Germany, a minister of the German government observed that it would have been cheaper to fly all the people to the Vatican and let the Vatican worry about the cost of security!

Is there anybody from the Catholic church in Sheffield who will offer some defence of this appalling waste of money, particularly when the Government axe will shortly be falling on many essential services that have real value to the community?

Original article: http://www.thestar.co.uk/letters/Can-anyone-justify-appalling-waste.6361969.jp

The British Humanist Association is a founding member of the Protest the Pope campaign, saying “nope” to the Pope. Humanist Groups affiliated to the BHA are located across the UK.