“Crackpots”, “lunatics” and the “atheist hate campaign”
Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark has warned Catholic families that “crackpots and lunatics” could still disrupt the papal visit.
The archbishop said Protest the Pope campaigners had promised in a meeting last week that they would not disrupt any of the ceremonies during the visit.
But he said the protesters could not guarantee that “some lunatic might not attach themselves to some of their events”.
“To be fair to them nobody can guarantee that you are not going to get crackpots and lunatics tagging on to these things and acting individually,” he said.
The archbishop met the leaders of the Protest the Pope coalition at New Scotland Yard last week. The meeting was called by the Met police in an attempt, he said, to “remove misunderstandings”. He described it as a “frank but civilised discussion”.
Pope faces atheist hate campaign in UK after top German aide says: ‘When you land at Heathrow you think you’re in a Third World country’
The Pope is today flying to Britain for his historic state visit, which has been overshadowed by the fallout from an aide’s insensitive comments comparing Britain to a ‘Third World country’.
Benedict XVI will be greeted by the Queen this morning with the full honours due to a world leader, hours after the senior cardinal who made the provocative remarks was dropped from his entourage.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, who accused Britain of harbouring aggressive atheism and discriminating against Christians, was condemned as racist by secular protesters determined to disrupt the Papal trip, the first to Britain for 28 years.
The Protest the Pope campaign march and rally will be held this Saturday in central London.
