Pope Benedict XVI - A Massive Expense?

When the Pope visited Britain it was a day to remember. But was it for the right reasons?

For everyone across the Capital it was a day to remember. The streets were lined with metal barriers, roads were closed off, people had to get up early because buses were diverted, and two noisy helicopters hovered across the sky. It was the day the Pope flew into Edinburgh and needless to say the whole event was surrounded by controversy.

Benedict XVI arrived in Scotland on September 16 and the estimated cost of his visit to the city was £400,000. The chief of Edinburgh City Council Tom Aitchison confirmed beforehand the preparations would be “several hundred thousand pounds” ranging from massive traffic diversions and stewarding, to papal banners, floral decorations and signs.

In the end the four day visit to the UK cost the taxpayer between £10m and £12m with the bill for policing being an additional £1.5m.

The expense wasn’t the only thing putting a black cloud over the whole shebang. When the Pope met with the Queen at Holyrood protests took place all over the city. The visit caused controversy with victims of clerical child abuse, the Orange Order in Scotland and members of secular groups who held demonstrations.

The former Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley flew across the water and led a delegation from the Free Presbyterian Church. He congregated with 60 ministers at the Magdalene Chapel in Cowgate before holding a public protest outside John Knox House raising a banner objecting to the Pope’s visit.

The marches were peaceful but still displayed a negative response towards a visit with the purpose of extending the hand of friendship.

The whole occasion was met with mixed feelings. What did the leader of the Catholic Church on UK soil mean to the people of Britain? Was the whole thing a big waste of time?

BBC News asked for the country’s opinions and the results showed just how far apart Britain seems to have grown from religion. A comment from a man named Paul pretty much summed this up: “Nothing at all. Man in white visits the UK (scoop?).” This concurred with many others, along with disgruntled comments on the cost of it all.

Another interesting note was the removal of several comments as “the moderators found it broke house rules”.

In the aftermath it’s difficult to pick out what was good about the Pope’s visit. Maybe religious tourism has been boosted; maybe he really did extend the hand of friendship to Britain.

Unfortunately for Benedict XVI though we’re not as religious as we used to be. In the end all we really cared about was the cost to the taxpayer and losing a few extra hours in bed to catch the bus before it got diverted.

Samantha Taylor