Monday 29 October 2012

A papal knighthood

'The papal knighthood given to Jimmy Savile "should not have been bestowed", a Vatican spokesman has told the BBC.'

No. it should not, though no blame attaches to its award unless the Vatican was better informed than his colleagues and bosses at the BBC will admit to being.
'The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales confirmed it has written to the Holy See to ask if the honour can be posthumously removed.'
No, it cannot. He held it while he lived, and death removed it from him. There's no more to be said. Unless we want to go the whole hog by exhuming his corpse so that we can put it on trial. Let the secular world wallow in post-Christian superstition; Archbishop Nichols ought to know better. One appreciates that for painfully obvious reasons he feels the need to be seen to be doing something, but this is simply the wrong thing.

The penalties now faced by Jimmy Savile are not a matter for the Church or any other human agency. A papal knighthood is just part of the worldly pomp which we will all be stripped of when we go to meet our Maker. It's not for us to judge how repentant he was, or far his many good works were done for good motives. Those of us who are conscious of having done a lot less good and no little harm in the course of our lives would do well to pray for his soul.

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Set my people free

Much rejoicing at the Curmudgeon's Arms last night, following the annoucement that live live music licences are to be thrown onto the bonfire of red tape. A veritable cultural renaissance is in prospect. We've already booked up-and-coming local tribute band Puppy Riot.

The neighbours? Oh, no doubt they will get used to it in time.

One or two of our regulars got so carried away that they were on the verge of lighting a celebratory fag. Luckily, however, they were reminded just in time that the law requires good citizenship and consideration for others.