I'm glad DW has this English summary of all the polemics this week over the Holy Father's scheduled address to the German Parliament next year. Since much of it was negative - and it was decided after all to have him speak - it was not among my translation priorities.
German Parliament at odds
over the Pope's address
during next year's visit
Dec. 17, 2010
Map shows the three cities on the Pope's itinerary.
Pope Benedict XVI is not scheduled to talk in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, until September 2011, but his visit has already stirred up a hot debate between the opposition Greens and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
The Greens oppose the papal speech in Parliament and Hans-Christian Stroebele, a Green Party grandee, said he would not listen to the pope's speech. Stroebele has protested against speeches in the past, when he left Parliament to ignore speeches by
George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin.
[The President Bush who addressed the Bundestag was George H.W. Bush, the father!]
Other Greens said they will attend the speech, but echoed the criticism.
"The German Bundestag is supposed to be neutral when it comes to state visitors," Volker Beck, head of the Greens' parliamentary group said. As the Pope is first and foremost the leader of a religious group, it would raise the question which representatives from other religious groups could be invited next, he added.
[This secular bigot ignores, of course, that no other religious leader is also a head of state, and would therefore be unlikely to be invited on a 'state visit' anywhere. Not to mention the obvious historical fact that Benedict XVI is the first German Pope in more than half a century, certainly since Germany became a nation. How can Germany fail to honor a German Pope in this way, an honor the state gives other non-German state leaders simply by virtue of their perceived 'importance' on the world stage.?What world leader is more important on the world stage int erms of moral authority than the Pope?]
The Greens lay great importance on the equal treatment of different religions and fear this to be compromised by the pope’s visit. The CDU dismissed the concerns and went on the offensive.
"
The Greens are simply against everything and everyone," CDU secretary general Hermann Groehe said. "You can only hope that this 'party against everything' reflects a bit over Christmas. It would be an honor to have the Pope speak in Parliament. "
Cem Oezdemir, leader of the Greens, rebuffed the sharp attacks. "The Pope should speak in Parliament if he wishes to do so," he said. Oezdemir added he believed in an open dialogue.
The Greens' concerns were backed by Social Democrat Rolf Schwanitz who is also a member of a group within his party that campaigns for laicism. He said he had reservations about the papal speech.
Wolfgang Thierse, the Social Democrat vice president of the German Parliament, called the Greens narrow-minded. The head of the Protestant Church, Nikolaus Schneider, said the Pope's invitation to speak in the Bundestag was "understandable, because the Pope is also a head of state."
Christian Stroebele added another twist to the debate in an interview with the Saturday editions of the WAZ group newspapers in Germany. He said he might consider staying in Parliament and listening to the Pope's speech if he were allowed to ask a question. Yet Stroebele, who describes himself as a Catholic, maintained the Pope had failed to modernize the Church.
"The Holy Father still promotes exorcism. For me that shows a medieval institution," he said.
[Bigots always tend to call anything 'medieval' that they don't understand or have little knowledge of!]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 18/12/2010 17:24]