Dozens of German opposition MPs have announced plans to boycott next week’s address of Pope Benedict XVI to the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament, in protest against “violation of state neutrality” by the head of the catholic church.
The Left party, which is leading the boycott, said that most of its MPs will stay away when the religious leader of over 1.1 billion Catholics addresses the house on 22 September.
Besides the Left party, several MPs belonging to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as well as the ecological Green parts, also announced that they will be joining the boycott. Media reports said more than 100 of the Bundestag’s 620 elected representatives plan to stay away when the pope, a German national, speaks at the house as the first head of the catholic church to do so.
The Vatican has reacted angrily to the boycott plans and said they will strengthen the image of “ugly Germans” abroad. Curial Cardinal Walter Brandmueller warned the members of German Parliament to be aware of the effects of their protests abroad.
Note EU-Digest: keeping in mind that all the countries within the EU adhere to a strict separation of State and Religion, no church or religious movement, including the Roman Catholic Church, has the right to tell its membership how to vote, and has no business telling elected officials how to conduct business of state, especially under pain of some religious sanction. No church also has the right to hold civil government hostage. In other words, civil law trumps religious law in the European Union. It seems, therefore, that the Pop,e who has a history of mixing politics with religion in his public speeches should not have been allowed to speak in the German parliament.
For more: German Opposition to boycott Pope’s address to Parliament | Firstpost
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