Pope Benedict XVI touches down in the UK next week. Photo credit: Rvn88

Benedict is the first Pope to visit the UK since 1983. But will he get a warm welcome or cool reception?

As Pope Benedict XVI’s historic official state visit to the UK draws closer – his Popemobile hits the streets on September 16 – the debate between his staunch supporters and campaigning critics is heating up to boiling point.

Much of the argument so far has centered on whether or not the UK taxpayer should foot the bill for the visit – estimated to between £10 and £12 million before policing costs are factored in. “The British public clearly has a problem with the funding of the papal visit, although this could be because they are unaware that in addition to being a religious leader Pope Benedict is also a head of state,” Paul Wolley, director of polling organisation Theos, told The Daily Mail.  “The Pope is visiting at the invitation of the Queen. It is right and proper that the British Government should pay a share of the costs of the visit,” argued Eileen Cole, Catholic Voices.

Others call into question whether the UK should host the Pope at all, given the Vatican’s well-documented recent problems. Julie Burchill at The Independent voiced her distate, “A Church which rails against abortion and then spends decades covering up the most appalling degree of child abuse obviously has no problem with holding two opposing ideas at once – and at least the opposition to termination now makes perfect sense, with hindsight. All those unborn children that could have been molested – what a waste!” Riffing on the Wayne Rooney hooker scandal, Burchill concluded that, “The Pope may well be able to set Wayne and Coleen (both Catholics) back on track but personally, with his track record, I’d rather receive moral lectures from Juicy Jeni.”

The Pope is not only taking flak from secular circles. The Daily Telegraph reported that, “The Catholic Church has been accused of being ‘deeply misogynist,’ intolerant of gay people and ‘monarchical’ in its approach” by members of Catholic Voices for Reform.

But before Benedict shelves his plans he should take comfort from the fact he does have some vocal friends in the UK. “Threats of a citizen’s arrest; protests from survivors of priestly abuse and the gay rights lobby; some spectacular organisational bungling on the part of the Catholic hierarchy in this country: nothing can dent the sheer joy felt by many of Britain’s four million Catholics at the prospect of seeing the Pope in their midst,” stressed Cristina Odone in The Daily Telegraph, who firmly backed the trip. Odone went as far as to suggest the Pope may even convert secular Brits in flocks: “Can Benedict XVI transform the image of the Catholic Church in Britain in his four days here? A poll published this week shows the notion is not as risible as it may seem. People were asked to comment on whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements contained in the Pope’s third encyclical letter, Caritas in Veritate. Twelve representative statements, taken directly from the letter, were tested and a significant majority agreed with 11 of them.”