Reaction to the Papal Visit

Pope Benedict's visit has certainly generated plenty of reaction over the last 4 days and has dominated the news schedules. The BBC showed a helpful summary programme last night examining the significance of the visit, with contributions from Lord Patten and the historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, amongst others. Pope Benedict's speech in Westminster Hall, where Thomas More and Guy Fawkes had both been put on trial, was considered to be particularly significant, and it was a nice touch for him and the Archbishop of Canterbury to publicly pay their respects at the tomb of (Saint) Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey.

Further reactions can be seen in this BBC article, including comments from the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society. It will be interesting to see if the visit will have make a significant contribution to the debate of the role of religion and politics and society, particularly in the light of the comments of Baroness Warsi this week who said that the Coalition "does God".

The Pope's Visit

The Pope is in Britain on what is the first state visit by the Pope since the Reformation. Yesterday he arrived in Edinburgh and is in London today. This visit, less like that of 1982 (not a 'state' visit), is highly controversial. Several developments have made it so - the child abuse scandal within the Catholic church, new technological developments such as stem cell research which have divided religious opinion, social developments such as civil partnerships and of course the fact that it is a 'state' visit rather than a pastoral one. The latter is down to Gordon Brown, who lobbied hard for the Pope to come to Britain to appeal to Catholic voters.
What do you think? Should the Pope be here on a state visit? What do you want to hear from him? What is your view of Pope Benedict XVI?
There are a variety of differing opinions in the press. Here is an article about Stephen Fry and Terry Pratchett's atheist view and here their letter to the Guardian with some other letters. Here is the defence of the Pope by the Belfast Telegraph and here the BBC coverage of his visit. There have also been several interesting programmes on both BBC2 and Channel 4.