British parliamentarians conclude visit to the Vatican

(Vatican Radio) British politicians from the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See concluded a visit to the Holy See on Thursday, accompanied by the Catholic chaplain to the UK Parliament, Canon Pat Browne. The 11 member Group, led by the Co-Chair Sir Edward Leigh, met with the Pope following his General Audience on Wednesday, held talks with top officials at the Secretariat of State and other Vatican offices, as well as visiting Caritas Internationalis and the Sant’Egidio Community. The Group is made up of representatives of both House of Parliament and all the principal political parties. Its main role is “to monitor the relationship between the UK and the Holy See,” exploring a broad range of issues pertaining to the Vatican and the work of the Catholic Church”. Just before returning to London, Sir Edward Leigh came into Vatican Radio to share his impressions of the three day visit and the important role that the Holy See continues to play in international affairs….Listen: “The point about the Holy See is that it’s not a temporal power, but it is an enormous soft power, to use modern jargon. It’s a religion of 1.2 billion people and therefore the British government and the British parliament is very interested in what the Vatican says…..For instance, Syria, what the Pope did in his day of prayer I think was significant: as you know, the British parliament, quite rightly in my view, led the world in voting against the war, and I think the Vatican and other Church people had a role to play in all that……

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