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Where the pope likes to go on his official travelsPOPE BENEDICT began his state visit to Britain on Thursday September 16th. He finds a country where Catholics, once discriminated against, are conspicuously successful in public life and where the Catholic Church has enjoyed a boost in its fortunes since the European Union expanded in 2004. This may mean Britain receives more visits from popes in the future: the country is low on the list of countries visited since 1964, when the Vatican began counting such trips systematically. However Britain will not be the most comfortable place for the current pope to visit. His elevation from Cardinal Ratzinger to Benedict XVI prompted the Sun newspaper to run a headline that read, “From Hitler Youth to Papa Ratzi”. Since then, reporting of his papacy in Britain has been dominated by the Church's mis-handling of child-abuse scandals.More Daily charts ...

Posted on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:15:51 GMT at http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgall...4&fsrc=rss