Britain's ex- Prime Minister Tony Blair has become a Catholic. What do you say about something like that? Go to confession and confess his sins along with yours, I guess. The BBC says today that he had given an interview to ITV1 channel here in Britain, saying he had 'prayed to God' before deciding to send the troops to Iraq. Ooops! We had a caricature of that kind of politics in George Bush, who has the support of many Christians in the U.S. (the Evangelicals). Now, is this scenario going to be repeated with a 'pro-Iraq War' Catholic too? Do you think all Catholics would be branded as 'right-wing' now, since we have an excellent Catholic model who might speak for all of us?




OUT OF OFFICE, BUT STILL A FACE OF THE IRAQ WAR
(Source: Internet)


I hope my dear liberal friends would have enough sense to go through Tony Blair's strained relationship with the Catholic Church ('Blair in Prickly Meeting at the Vatican') and the Catholic teachings (Abortion not a Poll Issue - Blair) before they jump in to proclaim anathema on all Catholics. Please BE AWARE of the fact that a man who could publicly oppose the then Pope John Paul II's very vocal criticisms of the war against Iraq, has no place as a spokesman for Catholics. Catholics, under the leadership of the Pope, has taken a moral stance on the Iraq war. And that stance is anti-war.

Moreover, he waited till he was out of office to convert. What does that say about his willingness to put his neck on the line? Everyone who has ever lived in the U.S. and U.K. know that these countries have an active anti-Catholic approach, both in politics and in the general media. It would have cost Blair a lot to be labelled 'Catholic' in British politics, which sorry to say, is not entirely 'secular'. Tony Blair himself admits that he didn't want to be labelled a 'nutter' (BBC).

I agree that it is a personal affair. I am happy someone has joined the Catholic Church. But that should not mean that everything he has done, including taking British troops to Iraq or his ambivalent stance on abortion, should be labelled as 'Catholic'. From my past experience with my 'liberal' friends, this is a scenario I can see developing. I hope someone in the Vatican speaks out before he is accepted as the Catholic face of the Millennium in Times magazine.