Is Tony Blair going to convert to Catholicism? Blair's wife and kids are Catholics and Blair reportedly attends Mass far more often than Anglican services. According to a UK press report, Blair told Pope Benedict XVI that he is ready to convert and in response got a welcoming spanking on Iraq:
Tony Blair yesterday used his last official foreign engagement before leaving office to tell Pope Benedict he wanted to become a Roman Catholic, a Vatican source said last night.
But, in talks lasting more than half an hour, the outgoing Prime Minister was left in no doubt that the Pope took a dim view of his record in office. A statement issued afterwards by the Vatican said there had been a 'frank exchange of views'. This is highly unusual language for the Vatican, which habitually describes meetings between the pontiff and other heads of state and government as 'cordial'. 'Frank' is code for unstinting criticism.
Vatican sources said the Pope remained unmoved in his view that Blair had been wrong over Iraq. To an even greater extent than his predecessor, Benedict feels that Catholic politicians cannot separate their public lives from their private.
As we enter the 2008 presidential season, it will be interesting to see whether Benedict do anything substantial about (a) Catholic Democratic candidates who support abortion rights and (b) Republican Catholic candidates who support the war in Iraq. To be sure, there's a technical difference between the two in that Catholic candidates who support abortion rights are flouting magisterial teaching while those who support the war in Iraq are merely disagreeing with a prudential judgment. But that's a pretty fine - even legalistic - distinction. My guess is that Benedict will have something to say on both scores, which will make an already interesting race even more ... shall we say, entertaining.
