Pope Arrives in France
Pope Benedict arrived in France on Friday for a four-day visit. It was the first time since he became the Roman Catholic leader that Benedict visited the largely Catholic country.
He was welcomed in Paris by Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni.
The theme of the visit is ‘Catholicism in a modern secular society.’ “For Christians it has always been clear that religion is not political,” the pope said. This even though he is said to be quite knowledgeable about Western and especially Catholic history.
A second reason for the visit is to commemorate the 150th anniversary of (Jesus’s mother) Mary’s sighting in Lourdes.
Later today Pope Benedict will attend a meeting with Islamic leaders. This is considered to be important for the pope because many Moslems felt insulted two years ago when he quoted an Medieval Christian leader who wrote that Islamic Prophet Muhammed had only brought evil and inhumane things to the world. He later said it had not been intention to insult Moslems.
Benedict is often praised by conservative Catholics. Progressive Catholics, on the other hand, are not always charmed by the pope’s conservative views.
