TONY BLAIR yesterday used his last official foreign engagement before leaving office to tell Pope Benedict he wanted to become a Roman Catholic, a Vatican source said last night.
But, in talks lasting more than half an hour, the outgoing Prime Minister was left in no doubt that the Pope took a dim view of his record in office. A statement issued afterwards by the Vatican said there had been a 'frank exchange of views'.
This is highly unusual language for the Vatican, which habitually describes meetings between the pontiff and other heads of state and government as 'cordial'. 'Frank' is code for unstinting criticism.
Vatican sources said the Pope remained unmoved in his view that Blair had been wrong over Iraq. To an even greater extent than his predecessor, Benedict feels that Catholic politicians cannot separate their public lives from their private beliefs. The statement went on to say that there had also been an 'exchange of opinions on certain laws recently approved by the Parliament of the United Kingdom'. Vatican sources said this was a reference, in particular, to the government's refusal to give Catholic adoption agencies an opt-out from the new law outlawing discrimination against gay couples.
But while the Pope and his advisers had no hesitation in chiding Blair over his political actions, they were just as ready to show he was personally welcome as an aspiring member of the Church.
Blair, his Roman Catholic wife Cherie and an eight-strong party of friends and advisers were given a red-carpet reception in the courtyard of the apostolic palace.
In a departure from normal procedure that seasoned Vatican observers said was unprecedented, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was hustled into the meeting between the Pope and Blair. He spent almost 10 minutes with them. One source noted that, apart from being leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the cardinal would also become Blair's bishop and would be the official ultimately responsible for his instruction in Catholic doctrine.
The mood after the Prime Minister's talks with Benedict, as he introduced his entourage, was relaxed and friendly. In a gesture of unmistakeable significance, Blair gave the Pope a framed collection of photographs of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the 19th century Anglican philosopher and churchman who converted to Roman Catholicism.