ITALY: Pope Benedict XVI departs Rome for a four-day visit to the UK

Record ID: 581135

  • Title: ITALY: Pope Benedict XVI departs Rome for a four-day visit to the UK
  • Date: 17th September 2010
  • Summary: CIAMPINO AIRPORT, ROME, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 16, 2010) (REUTERS) AIRITALIA PLANE ON TARMAC SECURITY GUARDS WALKING PAPAL , ITALIAN AND EUROPEAN UNION FLAGS FLYING CABIN CREW WAITING TO WELCOME POPE VARIOUS OF SECURITY GUARDS AROUND AIRPORT / SECURITY WITH SNIFFER DOG / POLICE SNIPER ON ROOF OFFICIALS WAITING TO WELCOME POPE POPE'S CAR ARRIVING POPE GETTING OUT OF CAR,
  • Embargoed: 2nd October 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: International Relations,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAD9IGNDXALHCNF8IF9DP6Z3V92
  • Story Text: The leader of the Roman Catholic Church left Italy's Ciampino airport on Thursday (September 16) to begin a four-day apostolic visit to the United Kingdom which has been fraught with controversy.
    Pope Benedict XVI's visit comes on the heels of a scandal of sexual abuse of children by priests in several European countries, strained relations with Anglicans Church, and discontent by British taxpayers that they are footing part of the bill for the pontiff's trip.
    Benedict is only the second pope to visit the U.K. since Henry VIII established the Church of England in 1534 over the Vatican's refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
    Catholics did not regain the right to vote in Britain until 1829 and members of the royal family who marry a Catholic still have to give up their right to the throne.
    The trip's religious centrepiece will be the beatification on Sunday in Birmingham of Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the most prominent English converts from Anglicanism to Catholicism.
    Newman, who lived from 1801 to 1890 and became a Catholic in 1845, was a key figure in the Oxford Movement, which tried to move the Church of England closer to Rome.
    The current pope has had a hard time inspiring the same enthusiasm as charismatic Pope John Paul II did during the first papal visit to Britain in 1982, when hundreds of thousands turned out to see him.
    On his arrival in Edinburgh later on Thursday morning, the pontiff will be met by the British Queen's husband, Prince Philip, before travelling to Holyrood Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth II.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register