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HM Government.

HM Government

Petition to:

Revoke the formal state visit given to the Pope Benedict XVI

This petition is now closed, as its deadline has passed.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Revoke the formal state visit given to the Pope Benedict XVI. More details

Submitted by Robert J Brown – Deadline to sign up by: 03 June 2010 – Signatures: 1,079

More details from petition creator

The Catholic Church in the USA said that "it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law".

In Europe, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, read out a statement after a meeting of the UN human rights council saying "gay men preying on teenage boys caused the sex scandals across the world rather than paedophilia".

"The Catholic Church takes a very high view of marriage and human sexuality. As the account of Genesis shows, marriage and sexuality were created by God and given to mankind as gifts for our benefit. Scripture records God's statement that "it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him" (Gen. 2:18). As a result, "a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). Some may forego the good of marriage to serve a higher calling (cf. Matt. 19:10-12), but it is a good nevertheless.

These arguments used by other fundamentalist organisations and are banned from entering the UK - why is the Head of the Catholic Church not on that list?

We ask that you revoke Pope Benedict XVI's 2010 visit to the UK.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Pope2010/

Government response

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the UK from 16 to 19 September at the invitation of Her Majesty The Queen. The visit is described as a Papal Visit with the status of a State Visit. The programme will include a number of pastoral events, which are the responsibility of the Catholic Church, as well as some significant official events, which will provide opportunities for issues of common interest to the UK Government and the Holy See to be discussed at the highest level. 

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.

As with any bilateral diplomatic relationship, there are issues on which we disagree.  The Holy See is clear on our positions on these issues. However, we believe that Pope Benedict’s visit will provide an opportunity to strengthen and build on our relationship with the Holy See in areas where we share interests and goals, and to discuss those issues on which our positions differ. 

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