That'll be some per diem

The Secular Right's not much impressed by the coming papal progress to the UK:

3 Comments · Posted by Andrew Stuttaford in Uncategorized

Via the Daily Mail:

Senior Vatican officials who will accompany the Pope on his historic visit to Britain will stay in a luxury hotel where rooms cost up to £900 a night – courtesy of UK taxpayers. The Government has confirmed it will meet the accommodation bill for 11 members of Pope Benedict XVI’s entourage during the visit from September 16-19. The Government has also decided to give all 11 a daily spending allowance of £150 for the trip. The money has been set aside for expenses such as food, dry cleaning, UK telephone calls and drinks – as long as they are not from the hotel mini-bar. The disclosure will exacerbate concerns about the rising cost of the four-day visit, which is already costing UK taxpayers £12million – 50 per cent more than originally intended…The hotel is close to Westminster and boasts a swimming pool and 24-hour room service. It will cater for the spiritual needs of the party by allowing a chapel to be set up in its private dining room. The Pope himself will stay in the Papal Nuncio’s residence at Wimbledon,
South-West London.

So far as the papal entourage is concerned, the only vow of poverty, it seems, is the one being imposed on the British taxpayers. As for that whole “catering for the spiritual needs” thing, well, you’d think that that was something that the Vatican folk could arrange for themselves.

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