Ulster Papal visit deemed 'insensitive'
THE row over a possible Papal visit to Northern Ireland continues to escalate as a group known as the Evangelical Protestant Society came out in support of DUP politician Ian McCrea.
They said they are now urging "Protestant politicians" to follow the lead of the Mid Ulster Assemblyman, who has called on the Pope not to come to the Province.
And they have revealed they will be working with Protestants right across the UK in a bid to co-ordinate opposition to any visit by Pope Benedict XVI.
Mr McCrea had posted his view that a papal visit would "face the vent of Protestant opposition" in a strongly worded statement on his website recently.
He said that any visit would be "very insensitive" in light of "the recent inquiry into child abuse in Roman Catholic institutions", as well as being "detrimental to community relations".
He also said that the majority of people in Ulster belonged to "denominations that hold to the belief that the Pope is the Antichrist and by his titles and claims he blasphemes Almighty God".
Mr McCrea's comments had been blasted as "deeply hurtful, insensitive and sectarian" by Mid Ulster SDLP Assemblyman Patsy McGlone, who demanded that he withdraw them.
"It is totally hypocritical at a time when the DUP are talking about building a Shared Future that one of their Assembly members comes out with this utterly sectarian and abusive rant," he said.
He added that most people, "both Catholic and Protestant alike, would find the suggestion that the Pope is the 'Antichrist' utterly extremist and entirely out of place in the 21st century".
And he said that the "one sad lesson that this society has given us is that bigotry has brought us nothing but sorrow, death and deep division".
But the Evangelical Protestant Society yesterday said Mr McCrea's stand was both "courageous and principled".
"Whether the Pope comes to Ulster next year, or the visit is deferred to 2012, now is the time to galvanise opposition to any such visit, and it is incumbent upon all Protestant leaders, in church and state, to nail their colours to the mast," declared the organisation.
"As evangelical Protestants, we believe in civil and religious liberty for all, and we accept that a religious leader has the right to pay a pastoral visit to his flock.
"But the Pope is no ordinary religious leader, and his visit cannot be merely pastoral. Indeed, the planned visit to Great Britain will be the first state visit by a pope since the Reformation."
The society also agreed that the Pope had been identified as the Antichrist by Protestants "from the days of the Reformation onwards", and said that was the position they held on the issue as well.
"We therefore utterly reject the accusation by SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone that Ian McCrea's comments were sectarian," added a spokesman.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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