We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to disassociate the British government from the Pope's intolerant views ahead of the Papal visit to Britain in September 2010. We urge the Prime Minister to make it clear that his government disagrees with the Pope's opposition to women's reproductive rights, gay equality, embryonic stem cell research and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. We ask the Prime Minister to express his disagreement with the Pope’s role in the cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy, his rehabilitation of the Holocaust-denying bishop Richard Williamson, and his decree paving the way for the beatification and sainthood of the war-time Pope, Pius XII, who stands accused of failing to speak out against the Holocaust. We also request the Prime Minister to assure us that the Pope’s visit will not be financed by the British taxpayer.
The meat of the pathetic, drippy, lame-ass, cop-out reply from out spineless lily-livered Prime Minister is as follows:
The Holy See has a global reach and so is a valuable international partner for the UK Government. Our relationship with the Holy See enables us to address jointly a range of foreign policy and development issues. These include working towards delivery of the Millennium Development Goals, addressing the impacts of climate change, preventing and resolving conflict, and finding ways to encourage disarmament.Completely failing to address any of the issues of the original petition whilst ticking all the "popular choice" buttons of climate change, conflict and disarmament. Nice to know that the government thinks that these populist ends are more important than basic human decency, the spread of disease or the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of children abused by the catholic church.
I am disgusted that the government which is supposed to represent me considers this anti-humanitarian nazi-apologising homophobic pedlar of mediaeval mythology considers that "The Holy See has a global reach and so is a valuable international partner for the UK Government." Considering the shift to the right in recent UK politics, I am also a bit frightened by it.