By MICHAEL SETTLE - HERALDSCOTLAND
Added: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:56:01 UTC

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Groups threatening to protest during the Pope’s official visit to Scotland and England have been warned they risk sparking outrage among the wider public.

The Conservative peer helping to organise the four-day state visit said protesters would be condemned if they sought to embarrass the pontiff or prevent worshippers attending events planned for the historic visit.

Lord Patten told The Herald yesterday that he was confident protests against the Pope’s visit would not overshadow the event.

He also defended the non-policing costs of the visit, previously estimated at £8 million but now put at between £10m and £12m.

The National Secular Society, which plans to demonstrate against the visit, denounced the increase as disgraceful, while the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “No visitor should cost UK taxpayers such a huge sum of money.”

The Pope’s visit in September includes an audience with the Queen at Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, and an open-air mass in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park.

Patten, a seasoned politician who is the Prime Minister’s special representative for the Pope’s visit, has a reputation as a troubleshooter – having authored the report on policing in Northern Ireland, been the last Governor of Hong Kong and managed John Major’s 1992 election campaign.

The 66-year-old said he agreed to take on his new role because it was important for Britain that the visit went well and “because all the faith communities have to assert with confidence they deserve to be listened to in a world that is sometimes intolerantly secular”. He added: “The reputation issue for the UK is considerable. This will be watched by the 30% of Americans who are Catholic, the 40% in Canada who are Catholic, the 25% in Australia who are Catholic as well as every European country.”

Patten said: “This a free society. If people want to protest they will but there will be many more who will want to welcome the Pope.

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TAGGED: POLITICS, RELIGION