At 8am outside Westminster Roman Catholic cathedral, in the cold, slanting light of a traffic-free Victoria Street, pilgrims gathered to catch a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI.
A group of teenage pilgrims from Salford ”” the girls giggling, as usual, the boys shy, as usual ”” tried to explain why they were there. He is like a grandad, I suggest.
“Not like my grandad!” says one girl: “He’s Irish!” She pauses, suddenly thoughtful. “But yes, he is like the type of grandad who would go out and buy you the best bike.”
And that, in a nutshell, is what happened last week. Joseph Ratzinger, 265th successor to Christ’s apostle Peter, scorned as “evil” and “God’s rottweiler”, and as the scourge of gays and women priests and the colluder in the cover-up for child-abusing clergy, turned out to be a nice guy.
Read it all (requires subscription).
Bryan Appleyard (Sunday Times)–Rottweiler? No, he’s a holy grandad
At 8am outside Westminster Roman Catholic cathedral, in the cold, slanting light of a traffic-free Victoria Street, pilgrims gathered to catch a glimpse of Pope Benedict XVI.
A group of teenage pilgrims from Salford ”” the girls giggling, as usual, the boys shy, as usual ”” tried to explain why they were there. He is like a grandad, I suggest.
“Not like my grandad!” says one girl: “He’s Irish!” She pauses, suddenly thoughtful. “But yes, he is like the type of grandad who would go out and buy you the best bike.”
And that, in a nutshell, is what happened last week. Joseph Ratzinger, 265th successor to Christ’s apostle Peter, scorned as “evil” and “God’s rottweiler”, and as the scourge of gays and women priests and the colluder in the cover-up for child-abusing clergy, turned out to be a nice guy.
Read it all (requires subscription).