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If Benedict doesn’t seem to be winning over his most determined critics, there is some evidence that the PR tide may be turning in his favour. Today, Labor MP Kate Hoey, a liberal who disagrees with the Catholic church on a wide variety of issues, announced that she was fed up with “carping about the trip from atheists with an axe to grind and a book to plug,” and would therefore join a welcoming party for the pope when he visits a center run by the Little Sisters of the Poor in her south London district.
Beyond giving a shot in the arm to the Catholic minority in the U.K., Benedict is trying to reach out this week to three constituencies: all those inside and outside the church scandalized by the sexual abuse crisis; secular society, whose attitudes towards religion range from benign indifference to outright hostility; and the Anglican Communion, whose members often look upon popes generally, and this pope in particular, with deep skepticism.
