If I’m being honest

The Pope is over for a visit, which is nice.  Or not.

There’s a lot of controversy about the visit and I have my own views.  I agree with Stephen Fry that the concept of this being a state visit is preposterous.  As an atheist I have a bit of an issue about tax payers money being used for the event but I can probably overcome those objections if I think about the waste that I know is an inherent fact of government spending.

I don’t really care whether the Pope travels to the UK or not.  From what I’ve seen and heard I don’t think he and I would get on, but fortunately for me and him, I think it’s unlikely we’ll meet.

I have, however taken some delight in the discussions I’ve heard from the pro and anti Pope camps.

There are people that want to raise the child abuse scandal that has more than touched the Pope (no pun intended).   There are those that insist on referring back to the Pope’s Nazi Youth past.  But those aren’t my favourites.

I love hearing the (obviously) Catholic pro-Pope camp and for me it’s fascinating that often they start sentences with “If I’m going to be honest…” or even better “If I’m going to be completely honest…” and I can’t help but think “But you’re religious.  I expect honesty from you.  Are you telling me you’re usually dishonest but for the purposes of this interview you will actually be honest?”  Amazing.  An unconscious slip perhaps, or maybe there’s more that can be assumed.