Prime Minister Tony Blair has had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
President George W Bush has discussed the sex scandal which has rocked the Catholic Church in the United States during a private audience with Pope John Paul II on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced hope for improved understanding between the Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches, following an audience with Pope John Paul II.
Wait for it …
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican – the first audience by the head of the Roman Catholic Church with a Saudi monarch.
I may be wrong, but I thought it was King Abdullah who had an audience with the Pope, not the other way round. Radio Four’s Six O’Clock News (BBC Radio Player ’til tomorrow, 27 minutes in) told us the same thing.
“King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has met the Pope at theVatican, the frst time a head of the Roman Catholic Church has had an audience with a Saudi monarch“.
I suppose their king ranks our bishop…
I laughed at that remark for at least a minute PJ, cheers.
The BBC – never met a brutal dictator it didn’t like.
This one is priceless. It should go on the sidebar. The Pope regarded as lower in status than a terror-sponsoring Muslim King?
Aside from the BBC’s default position of pushing the Islamic agenda, there’s an error here either of incredible arrogance or incredible stupidity:
Is this visit taking place in Saudi Arabia or the Vatican?
‘Is this visit taking place in Saudi Arabia or the Vatican?’
The Vatican. That’s kind of the point of the article here on Biased BBC.
Also, there are a few visual clues. The Pope is wearing a cross around his neck, and in another photo there is a cross on the desk where Pope Benedict and King Abdullah are sitting. Crosses, of course being highly illegal in Saudi Arabia (right up there with human rights, women’s rights, homosexuality, and fun) which coupled with the fact that the Pope is still alive, means this must’ve been in Vatican City.
…means this must’ve been in Vatican City
Yeah, I know. The question was rhetorical. I should have expressed it better. Might be interesting to check how the BBC reported on the Pope’s Middle East visit regarding who was having an “audience” with whom.
I suppose Nick Reynolds or John Reith will tell us that this was just “sloppy” or “a mistake.” I don’t buy it. I see it as part of a deliberate BBC attempt to push Islam as the dominant faith.
I think this is just stupidity and ignorance. Remember, Christianity, especially Catholicism, rates close to Nazism amongst the hip young things at the BBC. I’m surprised they even know who the current Pope is, let alone know such a detail as who has an audience with whom.
They could have checked, I suppose, but Ā£3.5bn doesn’t go far these days, what with the fortnightly Islam special section due in three days.
This just emphasises the BBC priority
Islamic Ruler (Top)
Pope (Middle)
Elected Leader (Bottom)
Truly appalling but hardly a surprise.
I’m just disappointed that it’s not being broadcast, I love those “An audience with…” programmes, and Abdullah would surely be more fun than her off the Titanic soundtrack.
The thing is that His Holiness has far more battalions than His Majesty/The Prophet in terms of worshippers and availability of nukes, tactical military weapons etc….. something those anti Christian buffoons at the BBC want to bear in mind should we decide to bring back the Spanish Inquisition!
I do hope Benny doesn’t have a vision one night, scream God Wills It and launch Crusade Numero 8 (or is it 9?).. š How WILL Jeremy Bowen report THAT one?!
BBC – daring to be rude to people they should respect. This is what we do (if they are Christians).
This one’s been puzzling me. I immediately assumed the audience was with the Pope from reading the examples, but I can see you could read them the other way if you wanted to.
But technically don’t Popes and Kings both give audiences? I wonder how it would be written if The Queen met the Pope. Who would be “audiencing” whom?
If it’s at Buckingham Palace it’s the Queen giving the audience, if at the Vatican it’s the Pope.
David Gregory,
It’s only puzzling you because you fail to see that Islam trumps everything else in the BBC’s warped world view. You also fail to see the BBC’s deliberate, though often subtle, trashing of Christianity and sanitising of Islam.
This one is a particularly unsubtle example.
That said, I’m no genius regarding these matters and I also wonder about the protocol re a meeting between the Queen and the Pope.
I guess a lot would depend on whose turf they were on at the time.
David Gregory:
“But technically don’t Popes and Kings both give audiences? I wonder how it would be written if The Queen met the Pope. Who would be “audiencing” whom?”
Well if it’s the BBC, it will be an anti-monarchy stance anyway, so NO king or queen could audience a pope.
The fact is however, there doesn’t seem to be a single news outlet reporting the encounter as anything other than:
“Saudi king has historic audience with pope”
Except the BBC of course.
A bit pedantic, I admit, but when I did my BBC induction training we were taught that the correct expression was ‘an audience OF the Pope”.
So – as it happens – not only is the BBC wrong in this instance, but you are too.
…..yeah, yeah I know I don’t have to pay for you or go to prison…..
Ah JR, now that you’ve got back from wherever you’ve been, I wonder if you’ve had a moment to consider my post from Monday – and, if so, whether you’d care to indulge me with your wit, wisdom and insight on the matters raised.