From the editor’s desk

The handmaiden of bigotry

When Lord Palmerston commissioned Giles Gilbert Scott to design a new Foreign Office off Whitehall in 1861, he insisted on a classical style to convey the grandeur of its endeavours. Today, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office may not run from its portals an empire stretching around the world, but anyone arriving at the building would still believe that the British FCO is an elite operation, run by the brightest and the best. That reputation has now been severely compromised by the revelations last week that members of the FCO staff, deputed to work on the forthcoming papal visit, drew up and circulated widely around Whitehall a memo suggesting that the Pope might launch a brand of condoms, bless a gay wedding and open an abortion ward during his forthcoming visit to Britain.

For the FCO, this has been a “McEnroe moment”. Former ambassadors, church officials, politicians and members of the public all initially responded in the same way: “You cannot be serious.” But the speed and extent of the apology from the FCO and the Government – at the time The Tablet went to press there had been no fewer than eight apologies from officials and politicians to the Church – indicated that this was no laughing matter. The memo was no spoof but a ­supposedly valid piece of “blue-skies thinking”.

The compilation, signing off and circulation of the memo revealed a distinct lack of judgement not only among junior staff but also by more senior FCO officials. It raises questions about the calibre of staff as well as the office culture and management style of the British civil service. But it is also indicative of wider problems in Britain today: a coarsening of debate, a lack of intuitive understanding about religion, a lessening of regard for institutions.

Perhaps there is a hint of traditional Protestant suspicion of the papacy in this saga, mixed with Dawkins-like loathing for the Catholic Church and all its works as well as natural revulsion at recent revelations of clerical child abuse and a belief that the Church is out of step with contemporary society on personal morality.

Yet it also comes at a time when politicians have woken up to the importance of religion in a shrinking world. Others clearly have not. There are no excuses for bad manners, however, and the numerous apologies acknowledge this. Those apologies have been willingly accepted by the Church both in Britain and by the Vatican. All involved still want the papal visit to go ahead. But it is increasingly clear that Pope Benedict’s visit will not be an easy one. The Church needs to counter suspicion and ignorance. It even needs to teach people the basics about Christianity. Palmerston would have been sad to hear it said, but ignorance is the handmaiden of bigotry, even in Whitehall.