The Pope just took off

And Archbishop Vincent Nichols is being interviewed by the BBC. He says that finally the people got to see the Holy Father as he is - not as he is mediated by the media. "He's a gentle, sensitive, eloquent, lovely person and it is in this loveliness that he gets his message across". A truly British way of putting it. The welcome given to the Pope has been overwhelming, the Archbishop says. Thank you, to the wonderful people of Britain, for proving the media, and the protesters wrong. Judging from the comments on some of news blogs, there is much gnashing of teeth among the militant atheists. They're trying to play down the crowds, trying to say that this visit was completely irrelevant. Rubbish. Catholics, non-Catholics, normal folk, and the country's leaders all seemed genuinely impressed by the Pope and his words to the Brisitsh people.

Let's pray for the people of Britain that the "Benedict bounce", which Scottish Cardinal Keith O' Brien told His Holiness is already apparent in Scotland, bears much fruit.





Bon voyage Holy Father. God bless.