The papal visit will be a “great Commonwealth event", watched closely by Catholics in Canada and Australia, Lord Patten has said.
At a press conference yesterday, Lord Patten, who is in charge of the Government’s part of the visit, said: “It’s worth remembering that this is not only a great British event but a great European Commonwealth event – 40 per cent of Canadians are Catholic, 25 per cent of Australians – and a great global event. When the Pope went to Sydney for World Youth Day I think more people went to Sydney for that than went to Sydney for the Olympics. We would expect a huge amount of global attention for his visit here.”
