Whence the Hatred?

The Vatican is being more than gracious in acknowledging the apology from Britain’s foreign office for the insults in respect of Benedict XVI that were contained in a memorandum being circulated in advance of the Pope’s visit to London later this year. In the memo, government aides joked, according to the Associated Press account of the story, that the Pope could open an abortion clinic, launch a line of condoms, or sing a duet with the head of the Church of England, Elizabeth II. A British envoy met with Vatican officials to extend a formal apology, and afterward, a spokesman for the Vatican, Rev. Federico Lombardi, was quoted by the AP as saying that Britain had “supplied all the explanations, and there is nothing to add.”