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Foreign Office is left looking cretinous over insult to Pope

By Laurence White

Since being appointed Ambassador to the Holy See in 2005, Francis Campbell has worked diligently to enhance relationships between the Government and the Vatican.

It was evident to anyone who viewed the recent BBC television series on his work that he is a well respected figure among the Pope’s closest advisers and that he has created a stronger political understanding between the UK and Rome

Imagine then the Rathfriland-born diplomat’s mortification at having to apologise for an inane and puerile document emanating from the Foreign Office in London which poked fun at the Pope ahead of his visit to the UK in September.

The document, which was intended to crystalise blue-skies thinking on how to make the visit ideal, was about as insulting as could be imagined.

Among the ‘ideas’ were: having the Pope open an abortion clinic, a Papal blessing for a gay marriage, and the launch of a Benedict-branded condom.

OK, these were not serious suggestions — at least I hope they weren’t — but how stupid could anyone actually be to commit them to paper and then circulate them around Government departments?

From there, someone passed them on to Catholic Church figures in England — from whence they passed them straight to the Vatican.

These ideas were the sort of things that a bunch of lads would dream up after imbibing a few too many on a night out.

Senior Foreign Office officials have stressed they were never officially sanctioned and that the junior civil servant who put them in the document has been moved to other duties.

It’s difficult to imagine what those duties could be, but let us hope it means standing about a lot outside in the rain.

Other imaginative ideas included having the Queen and the Pope singing a duet — a sort of international Britain’s Got Talent slot — and having the Pope apologise for the Spanish Armada.

While it is easy for senior Foreign Office officials to heap the blame on the junior think-tank — should that be thick-tank — and get Francis Campbell to go on bended knee to Vatican officials to apologise, they — and that includes David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary — should also get their knuckles rapped.

After all they put the cretins who came up with these ideas in charge of finding new ideas.

Astonishingly, had there been a Foreign Office document in existence which said that the Pope should be made aware of the deep hurt felt by many over his handling of the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, it would have caused less offence.

For the Church has to face up to its responsibilities for allowing paedophile priests to carry out their vile acts virtually unchecked.

But by poking fun at the Church and the Pope in such a childish way, it makes the Foreign Office the real object of derision.

This leaked document has cemented the belief of many people that the Foreign Office has within its ranks civil servants who do not have a clue about real life.

Hardly an ideal job description for the arm of Government charged with building relationships throughout the world.

Belfast Telegraph

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