Order urges ‘opposition’ to papal visit
The Orange Order has called on its members to demonstrate their opposition to the Pope’s visit to Britain.
In a statement released on Wednesday the institution also called on members to oppose any future invitation for the Pope to visit Northern Ireland.
Pope Benedict XVI’s trip will be the first papal visit to the UK since John Paul II in 1982.
The Pontiff is due to fulfil a series of engagements in Scotland and England in mid-September, after having been formally invited by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last February and Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy.
In the statement the Orange Order said that they could not “welcome or agree with the visit of the Pope to this country.
“We therefore call on all the citizens of the UK, and especially members of the Loyal Orange Institution, to demonstrate their opposition to the Pope’s visit to England and Scotland, and to oppose any future invitation to visit Northern Ireland.”
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