I do not know why the British media continue to write that Pope Benedict XVI will stay at Buckingham Palace when he visits the United Kingdom next year, but they do. [Popes abroad stay at the local Apostolic Nunciature, which is a 'controlled' environment that is also discreet and unlikely to be considered as 'living high'.] Here is an interesting piece of speculation from the Telegraph - and I am keeping the headline they have for it.
Duke of Edinburgh visits Catholic shrine
before Pope's stay at the Palace
by Tim Walker
Oct. 14, 2009
Mandrake reported last week that the Queen is said by senior sources at the Vatican to have "grown increasingly sympathetic" to the Roman Catholic Church.
Now, I hear that the Duke of Edinburgh has demonstrated his own affinities with Catholic traditions ahead of Pope Benedict's visit to Britain.
The Duke has visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, the first time that a senior member of the Royal family has done so for more than 400 years.
"We wrote to the Royal household to ask if someone could come to open the new wing and we were told that the Duke would do so," says a spokesman for the shrine in Norfolk.
It was customary for monarchs from Henry III until Henry VIII to visit the shrine on pilgrimage, but this tradition was abandoned after the Reformation. The Duke is the first member of his family to visit the shrine since the Duchess of Kent, who converted to Rome in 1994.
The shrine is where Mary is believed to have appeared in a vision to Richeldis de Faverches, a devout Saxon noblewoman, in 1061.
The Pope is expected to stay at Buckingham Palace next year when he makes only the second Papal visit to this country since Henry VIII broke with Rome and established the Church of England 500 years ago. It will be the first time that a Pope has visited Britain since Pope John Paul II in 1982.
[What a mindless statement, considering that there has only been one other Pope after John Paul II!]
Last week, I reported that sources at the Vatican claim the Queen's sympathy for Catholicism has increased as she has become "appalled", along with the Prince of Wales, at developments in the Church of England.
The Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the Church, is "also said to have an affinity with the Holy Father, who is of her generation".
'Sympathy' is one thing but can anyone really see Queen Elizabeth ["Duty above all") - titular head of the Church of England, sworn Defender of that Faith - ever be more than just sympathetic to Rome?
Still, for a dyed-in-the-wool, bred-in-the-bone anti-Papist, Prince Philip's visit to Walsingham seems to me very significant on its own.
P.S.
Sorry, I should have checked first. I take back the last statement above. It turns out there are two shrines in Walsingham - the Anglican and the Roman Catholic. And the Duke of Edinburgh went to the Anglican shrine, not the Catholic one - the Anglican site has a complete coverage of the Duke's visit, pictures and all. So why on earth would the Telegraph reporter who lives in Britain and should know better report that the Duke visited the Catholic shrine?
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/10/2009 22:39]