MONEY FROM the UK’s department for international development was siphoned off to pay part of the £10 million (€11.8 million) costs of Pope Benedict’s visit to Scotland and England last September.
A sum of £1.85 million (€2.17 million) was taken from the aid budget and passed on to the foreign and commonwealth office, while almost £4 million more came from the department of energy and climate change to cover security and other costs incurred during the visit.
Justifying its decision to contribute to the costs, the department for international development said the money had come from its administration budget, rather than overseas development funds and “recognised the Catholic Church’s role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries”.
Accusing the department of providing “a lame excuse”, Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce said its argument “may well be an argument for giving money to projects run by the Catholic Church”, but it did not justify paying for a papal state visit.
“The department for international development should not be seen as a soft touch by other hard-pressed departments and it should not be using its money in ways that are other than on its mission statement – delivering for poor people in poor countries.
“It’s impossible to see how any poor person in sub-Saharan Africa or anywhere else in the world gets any benefit from this,” said Mr Bruce, who chairs the international aid select committee.
Labour’s deputy leader and shadow international development secretary Harriet Harman said the foreign office should pay the money back. “[The] money should be [used] to tackle poverty and global inequality, not to support foreign office diplomacy. The foreign office should pay it back.”
The British Humanist Association, which strongly opposed taxpayers having to pay for the Pope’s visit, sharply criticised the department for agreeing to foreign office demands for money.
“It is irrational and wrong for government to say the money was paid to recognise the work that the Catholic Church does overseas as an NGO – questionable in itself – when the money was used to fund the state visit,” said the BHA’s Naomi Phillips.
“Most people, including Christians, did not think that the British taxpayer should pay for the Pope’s visit in the first place, many will be astonished to see the detrimental impact that this illegitimate use of public funds has already made.”
