Audience With Pope Brought Exchange of Gifts and Ideas, Says Lady Warsi

Lady Warsi reported a positive response to her speech from the pope. Photograph: Rex Features

Vatican protocol requires that women meeting the pope wear black topped by a headscarf and Lady Warsi did not disappoint on Wednesday, donning a Pakistani Dupatta scarf. The six male British ministers who joined Lady Warsi wore suits.

The 20-minute meeting, which one minister described as “a handshake and a photo opportunity”, was the culmination of a British ministerial delegation to discuss climate change, international aid and how to put religion back into UK policy making, a point stressed by Warsi in a speech at the Vatican on Tuesday.

“The pope congratulated me on my speech and asked me to carry on making the case for faith,” said Warsi after the meeting.

“The Vatican is delighted to hear about engaging faith,” said Nigel Baker, the UK ambassador to the Vatican. “It’s rare that people who are not heads of government get a papal audience, so it’s a indication of the weight the Holy See is giving this visit.”

Warsi said the Queen had sent greetings to the pope before she recounted the gifts the group – which also included international development minister Alan Duncan and energy minister Greg Barker – had brought for Benedict: A signed King James bible from David Cameron and an English language Koran from Warsi, who is the first female Muslim to serve in the British cabinet.

“He said he had read it already in German,” she said. “My translation into English is by Muhammad Asad, who was born a Jew in eastern Europe and converted to Islam, so I thought it was a nice inter-faith gift.”

Warsi also gave the pope a piece of Islamic art – a small cube which folds open to reveal 99 smaller cubes, on each of which is written a name used to refer to Allah.

In return, the pope handed out papal medals to his visitors. [More]

SOURCE

The Guardian