The matter of the insults to the Pope by the British Foreign Office has something funny about it. Not funny hah-hah but funny peculiar.
I have had some dealings with Foreign Offices and with the sort of people who normally staff them. It is a hugely important part of their training not to give offence.
I know professional diplomats will sometimes let their hair down at private parties or in family situations by ridiculing the people they deal with.
But one thing they never, never, never do is put such things in writing.
All their training has conditioned them to avoid anything that might possibly be “embarrassing” to the extent that they could be described as being biologically incapable of it, like ex-spies I have known, long retired, who are literally unable to utter even the most dubiously sensitive material on the telephone.
Yet here we have highly insulting and embarrassing material not merely reduced to writing but actually given a kind of official status and circulated among officials at Downing Street and Whitehall. Whoever leaked the material to the Daily Telegraph was obviously shocked by it.
Normally one would say this sort of thing just doesn’t happen, let alone in the British Foreign Office, with a reputation of being one of the most professional in the world. Further, the Foreign Service is meant to recruit only the intellectual crème de la crème.
Not only that, but along with the suggestions it contains which might be passed off as a rather feeble and childish humour, such as the Pope endorsing a brand of condoms, we have suggestions which on the face of it – such as that the Pope open a Helpline for abused children – are apparently meant to be taken seriously.
The covering note to the effect that some of the ideas were “far-fetched” is a further indication that the ideas were meant to be treated as more than a joke – if the document had been merely a joke, it would not have been necessary to add this.
Anyone can make a mistake, but this does not look like an ordinary mistake. Look at it from any angle you like, something odd has been going on here. The senior official responsible for drafting the document was apparently of Pakistani origin, although his religion has not been disclosed.
Although fortunately less tragic, and not otherwise comparable, this incident is in one way reminiscent of the recent case of the Muslim fanatic psychiatrist promoted to major in the US Army who shot 14 people, mainly US Servicemen, dead on a military base while crying Allah Akbar (“God is Great”).
That is, it suddenly exposes highly important and normally secret procedures and appointments to the light of day, showing a degree of incompetence so deep-seated as to take the breath away. Again, it is only normal common sense and sanity to expect that anyone entrusted with so responsible a position would be first subjected to the most searching examination.
Whatever the explanation here – ignorance, irresponsibility, anti-Catholic – or anti-Christian – malice or whatever, the whole affair is more than merely embarrassing; it is alarming in its implications.
The Foreign Office has apologised for the incident and said that the individual responsible has been transferred, although apparently not otherwise disciplined. But that doesn’t answer any of the questions it raises.