Papal spokesman sees Britain trip as challenging, not dangerous
)

(September 11, 2010) The Vatican isn't worried about the possibility of protests during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom next week, says a spokesman. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi met Friday with journalists who asked about hostility toward the September 16-19 Papal visit. A campaign called Protest the Pope is organizing a march through London on September 18, which will voice concerns over the Church's handling of the sexual abuse crisis, among other issues. Father Lombardi said that with regard to the protests, "there is nothing on our part over which we must be worried," and that such events are part "of the normal climate of a pluralist society, such as the British, in which there is great liberty of expression, and in which Catholics are a minority." Out of 51 million inhabitants in the United Kingdom, 5 million are Catholic. Father Lombardi also referred to a recently published report in the English Catholic newspaper The Tablet, which shows that only a minority is hostile to the Pope. The trip to the United Kingdom will be the 17th international journey for Pope Benedict XVI's, and Fr Lombardi said "the expectation is notable." Father Lombardi said that the Pope had established that beatification ceremonies would take place in the diocese of origin of the blessed, and they would be presided over by the president of the Pontifical Council of Saints' Causes. However, the beatification of Cardinal Newman is an exception, and that the decision should be seen in a positive sense, as it is much united to the Pope's trip to the United Kingdom and is the sign of the appreciation, interest and importance the Holy Father attributes to the figure of Cardinal Newman.