BELFAST (NORTHERN IRELAND)
Belfast Telegraph
October 13 2018
By Philip Ryan
Former Irish President Mary McAleese accuses Pope John Paul II of “highly offensive” misogyny in a sensational new book.
Ms McAleese says she was seriously offended by the pontiff purposely ignoring her when they were first introduced ahead of their much publicised meeting during her presidency.
Instead of greeting Ms McAleese, the Pope reached across to her husband Martin and said: “Would you not prefer to be the President of Ireland instead of your wife?”
In the book Madam Politician: The Women At The Table of Irish Political Power by RTE political correspondent Martina Fitzgerald, Mrs McAleese says “nobody else thought it was funny” and her husband was “mortified” by the Pope’s comment.
“He knew by my face that I didn’t think it was funny. I did say to him: ‘You would never have done that to a male president,'” she adds.
The Pope said he did not have fluent English and the comment was intended to be a joke.
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