BishopAccountability.org
	The Secret Costs of Papal Visits By Muriel Fraser National Secular Society April 25, 2008 http://www.secularism.org.uk/94689.html In Australia protests are mounting against the unknown bill for the papal trip planned for July. As a visiting head of state, Benedict XVI will have his accommodation and (the massive) security paid for by his hosts, but the Australian taxpayers are not allowed to know what it will cost them. In preparation for the Pope's visit to Australia, the premier of New South Wales had a financial statement drawn up which he says proves how advantageous this will be. However, Premier Morris Iemma, who happens to be Catholic, then promptly exempted this report from the Freedom of Information Act, claiming it would be against the public interest to disclose it. (Courier-Mail, 10.4.2008) Occasionally, however, some of these carefully-guarded figures do come out. Two years ago, on the occasion of Benedict's first papal trip, the president of the Bavarian Police Union, Harald Schneider, got a look at the cost of the Pope's security. This led Schneider to remark that it would have been cheaper if the German taxpayers had given every Catholic pilgrim who wanted it, a round-trip ticket to go and see the Pope in Rome. (Mittelbayerische Zeitung, 1.2.2006). Of course, in the end both the Australian and the German taxpayers can afford to subsidise the pope. But unfortunately, papal trips are not confined to lands like these. The much-travelled John Paul II visited 129 different countries, few of them as wealthy as Australia and Germany. In 1990, for instance, he made a "state visit" to Tanzania. At that time the former nun, Maria Lauda/Majella Lenzen, was working in a Tanzanian hospital. (She was later expelled from the Sisters of the Precious Blood for distributing condoms to prostitutes.) As she relates, "Suddenly the order came for every villager to pay 1000 Tanzanian shillings for the necessary security measures. That's a month's wages for a family. But, in order to save face, almost everyone paid up. Even when they had to incur large debts". (Bild, 4.2.2000)
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.