UK government urges anti-papal protestors to show restraint
July 06, 2010
Chris Patten, the British government’s special representative for the September papal visit, is urging anti-papal protestors to show restraint.
“It would be an extraordinary irony if those who polemicize past intolerance by churches are to become themselves the proponents of intolerance towards churches,” he said on July 5.
Baron Patten also characterized the authors of the April Foreign Office memo that insulted the Pope as “offensive idiots.”
Patten, who served as last British governor of Hong Kong, is chancellor of the University of Oxford.
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Further information:
- Britain seeks show of restraint during pope visit (Reuters)
- Chris Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes (Wikipedia)
- British government apologizes for Foreign Office memo that insulted Pope (CWN, 4/26/10)
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