Community | September 15, 2010 | 3 comments

Pope aide pulls out of trip after 'Third World jibe

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CarolineS
A senior Papal adviser has pulled out of the Pope's UK visit after saying arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a "Third World" country.

Cardinal Walter Kasper reportedly told a German magazine the UK was marked by "a new and aggressive atheism".

The Vatican said the cardinal had not intended "any kind of slight" and had simply pulled out due to illness.

The UK Cabinet Office said his views were personal and not representative of the Vatican or bishops in the UK.
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“Start Quote

They are saying it is ill health, but I wonder if that is the fact. I wonder if he has been dropped because he is an embarrassment”

End Quote Clifford Longley The Tablet

The German-born cardinal was quoted as saying to the country's Focus magazine that "when you land at Heathrow you think at times you have landed in a Third World country".....

"They also said his "Third World" comment referred to the UK's multicultural society."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11317441
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3 comments // Pope aide pulls out of trip after 'Third World jibe

  • div
    • 0
      div  
    • So, if this story is accurate, either the guy is a racist asshole, or he's a pious asshole. I'm going with the former, because if he thinks Heathrow airport is like a third world country because of rampant atheism...he's also an idiot. Anyone with half a brain knows that poorer countries are more likely to be filled with religious folk!

    • 1 year ago
  • jmarkred
    • +1
      jmarkred  
    • I didn't think Heathrow was that bad, but it has been a long time (and I'm not a Cardinal, so there may be that as well.) Strange story.

    • 1 year ago
  • CarolineS
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