http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11180862
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Some 77% of Britons think taxpayers should not help pay for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Scotland and England.
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Putting aside the Religious side of this visit , Is the Pope the leader in the Vatican and therefor his visit would be classed as the visit of a sovereign states leader ???.
Would there be the same uproar if it was Obama or Sarkozy. Personally i feel most of those asked for there opinion gave it based on the religious side of the visit. I am not a religious person but even i can see we have to treat the Pope the same as any other leader that visits this country ?.
Personally i say we pay up just like any other visit. We would expect that other countries provide the security needed when our Prime minister or Queen visits there country and therefor why should we be different when we are visited by a world leader or statesman.
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The Pope is due to arrive on 16 September, the first papal visit since Pope John Paul II's 1982 trip.
The cost of the trip to UK taxpayers, previously estimated at £8m, could rise to between £10m and £12m.
The Catholic Church is also expected to make a contribution of between £9m and £10m towards the costs, which do not include an expected multi-million pound bill for policing the visit.
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A Government spokesman said: "The Holy See is an internationally-recognised nation with significant influence across the world, while the Catholic Church has a billion adherents.
"The Pope is visiting at the invitation of the Queen. It is right and proper that the British Government should pay a share of the costs of the visit."
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I did not start this thread to have yet another boring religious fight just because you can and if that's all you can contribute then stay out of the thread and start your own. This is a thread about the visit of a sovereign state leaders visit and why some seem to think the public should not be paying for his visit.