Thursday, April 07, 2005

Mugabe to Gatecrash Pope's Funeral

Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe will attempt to attend tomorrow's funeral service for Pope John Paul II at St Peter's in Rome, despite being the subject of an European Union travel ban.

The EU imposed the ban after its observers were denied access to observe the 2002 elections. It will be interesting to see how the matter is dealt with, if at all.

Mugabe was raised by Jesuits, and it requires Jesuitical parsing of an extremely high order to justify the murderous tyrant's presence at the ceremony.

But the EU's position is, predictably, so morally opaque as to see no especial problem with "President" Mugabe's attendance. The Vatican, you see, is not a member of the EU and Italy, through which the "President" had to pass to reach the Vatican, has a treaty with the Vatican under which it will not stop travellers who have business with the Pope.

The Daily News

No comments: