Pope in Venice, urges welcome for immigrants

There's nothing in this world like a useful idiot and this Pope is one. I was raised Catholic, but haven't practised for years after having to endure sermon upon sermon from liberal priests who used the church as their moral soap box. And now we have the Pope urging Italians to welcome the invasion of third-world immigrants into their country! Ummm...Mr Pope - the vast majority of these 'immigrants' are Muslim and do you honestly think that they wouldn't chop off your head first chance they got? I don't see you standing on the shores welcoming them but you expect your fellow Christians to? Oh, but, you see, Mr Pope, he's ok - after all, he lives in the Vatican, which is the best guarded nation on this planet. When the Vatican allows these 'immigrants' to settle there and feed, house, educate and provide money and jobs as they demand all others do then maybe he'd have a moral leg to stand on and then just MAYBE I'd listen to him. Instead he's encouraging the peasants local communities to provide for them whilst he dines on the finest food, eats off his gold plates and sleeps in his secure marble palace. Mr Pope - I urge you to turn your Vatican into a great big Mosque and embrace that ancient spirit of unity you're so fond of preaching about! Oh, and leave all the gold and riches for the new masters....This is a man who is out of touch with reality, flanked as he is, by his personal security corps.

VENICE, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI urged Italy on Sunday to welcome immigrants fleeing to its shores, invoking the historic role of Venice and the once influential church in nearby Aquileia as a cultural bridges during his two-day visit to northern Italy.

"The churches created by Aquileia are called today to renew that ancient spiritual unity, in particular in light of the phenomenon of immigration and the new geopolitical circumstances," Benedict said during his homily to more than 300,000 worshippers gathered in a vast park on the Venetian mainland.

Italy has been struggling to cope with thousands of illegal migrants that have reached its shores in recent months often in rickety boats as they flee unrest spreading through northern Africa. On Sunday, about 400 were rescued when their boat crashed against rocks at the port of Lampedusa, Italy's closest port.

The pope's message of tolerance for immigrants appeared especially pointed as the visit takes place in the region of Veneto, one of the strongholds of the anti-immigration Northern League, although Venice itself has long been run by center-left administrations.

The open-air Mass was the spiritual highlight of Benedict's two-day visit, the first by a pope to Venice since his predecessor John Paul II plied the canals in a gondola styled for Venice's long-ago rulers.

Benedict too glided across the mouth of the Grand Canal in the same gondola, the Dogaressa, piloted by four gondolieri in white outfits and golden sashes. The pope chatted quietly with Venice Cardinal Angelo Scola on the short journey, removing his white skull cap to prevent it from blowing away in the wind.

Benedict returned after Sunday Mass to Venice's historic center for lunch, followed by an assembly of bishops at St. Mark's Basilica.

The visit was held under tight security, with helicopters flying overhead during the Mass and the pope flanked by his personal security corps. Most traffic in the area of the Mass was blocked, but worshippers were not required to go through metal detectors or have their bags checked as they streamed into the park.

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