Foreign Aid money used for Popes visit

[Silurian]

From the BBC

MPs have asked ministers to explain why £1.85m ($3m) from the international development budget was spent on the Pope's UK visit in September.

They queried the "surprising" transfer from the Department for International Development (Dfid) to the Foreign Office and what it was spent on.....

...."Many people will be as surprised as we were to discover that UK aid money was used to fund the Pope's visit last year," its chairman, Liberal MP Malcolm Bruce, said.

"Ministers need to explain exactly what this was spent on and how it tallies with our commitments on overseas aid."
....

...A Dfid spokesman said the department was one of several which part-funded the Pope's visit.

He added: "Our contribution recognised the Catholic Church's role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries...

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&so...19S_Dg&usg=AFQjCNGMcuaIcD9rZsMYdo8ZV7zntzvfug

So should money for Foreign Aid have been diverted to pay for the Popes visit.

 

[Brian Shanahan]

Of course not.

 

[timtofly]

Well the Pope would be a Foreign entity, but that much Aid....

 

[Silurian]

The money is supposed to be used to help aid poor counties.

The money should have come out of the Foreign Office budget

 

[useless]

We pander to the Papist lobby...

 

[Traitorfish]

In before the inevitable degeneration of British criticisms of the Catholic Church into a thinly veiled reprisal of Victorian anti-Catholic bigotry.

 

[amadeus]

In before the inevitable degeneration of British criticisms of the Catholic Church into a thinly veiled reprisal of Victorian anti-Catholic bigotry.

Before?

 

[Quackers]

I actually predicted Traitorfish's response

 

[Traitorfish]

I actually predicted Traitorfish's response

Don't get me wrong, the Pope's an utter bell-end. I just find that a surprising amount of Britons have a hard time separating their contemporary criticisms of the Catholic Church, which are largely valid, from their historical dislike of Catholic people, which is entirely not. It usually takes them between about fifteen to twenty minutes to go from "We feel that the position of the Church in regards to the AIDs epidemic in Africa in Africa is unreasonable" to "Bloody superstitious mick bastards!", which doesn't speak of a nation which has entirely come to terms with some of its uglier history.

 

[GamezRule]

This is ridiculous. The pope shouldn't even be allowed on English soil. Don't really care if he visits Wales/Scotland, and Northern Ireland should be part of Ireland anyway.

 

[Oerdin]

In before the inevitable degeneration of British criticisms of the Catholic Church into a thinly veiled reprisal of Victorian anti-Catholic bigotry.

I bet you're a kiddy fiddler.

 

[Virote_Considon]

I'd rather they spend the money on an official state visit than a corrupt kleptocracy who only need the money in the first place because they rejected the territorial integrity of British rule in their land.

This is ridiculous. The pope shouldn't even be allowed on English soil. Don't really care if he visits Wales/Scotland, and Northern Ireland should be part of Ireland anyway.

The United States should be split into two, with the northern half being a colony of Canada, and the Southern being given to Mexico, since its practically Mexico anyway.

 

[T. Goldstein]

Well, the Catholic Church should be banned anyways, as it is a corrupt and evil organization that works to undermine the nations.

 

[Tani Coyote]

"Oh it's just 3 million. Just a drop in the bucket! Nothing to complain about. "

I hate this argument more than anything; it's used against any proposed spending cut of any kind. Enough drops WILL fill the bucket. Every bit counts. It's used to protect every single specific thing you can target, when generally, you need to target specific things to get the job done!

/rant

---

Waste is waste. This money was meant to help the poor, not the rich. The Pope runs the largest faith in the world. Surely he has enough money to haul himself around.

 

[Silurian]

In before the inevitable degeneration of British criticisms of the Catholic Church into a thinly veiled reprisal of Victorian anti-Catholic bigotry.

Ok forget about the financing of the Popes visit.

Would it be ok for the government funded hospital to pay £1.8m towards the rebuilding of a busy road junction where many people were injured.

What is the point of having department budgets if it is not spent in things unrelated to the department? If you want to cut the department’s budget cut it and take the money back into the central pot.

 

[Holycannoli]

I'm a catholic at odds with everything being said in this thread, but I don't think foreign aid money should have been spent on his visit.

 

[Brian Shanahan]

"Bloody superstitious mick bastards!",

But we are! Yeah seriously you're right, just as the more idiotic of us Irish should stop inserting IRA slogans into the Fields of Athenry.

Well, the Catholic Church should be banned anyways, as it is a corrupt and evil organization that works to undermine the nations.

And following the same sentiments, we have equally valid grounds for banning Judaism, stripy socks, and (a personal bug bear of mine) people who won't eat Brussels Sprouts. No matter how stupid you think a thing is you can't ban it on a blanket statement. You can ammass evidence to get members convicted, force changes to be mande, and in extreme cases (e.g. Nazis) have the organisation liquidated. But banning things because "I said so" is always a bad idea.

 

[W|M]

But I have learnt from personal experience (see: fundies) that the Catholic church is a terrible thing that must be destroyed!

 

[Masada]

... internal budget adjustments are not really all that uncommon. I routinely steal money from health and education to fund horrible things like I dunno housing. I must be scrouge-a-Mc-Duck-a-lots.

 

[JollyRoger]

Inn before the lock forced the Pope to a manger.