Britain Apologizes to Pope Benedict...

...for mocking memo drafted by 23 year old Foreign Ministry staffer.

All things considered, this looks like the kind of thing that you might expect from a 23 year old who hasn't quite gotten past that stage of life which thinks "wouldn't it be cool if we acted like they act on whatever the British version of South Park is."

On the other hand, diplomacy is largely about symbols and allowing the representative of a state or belief to be treated with contempt can easily be translated into real policies which treat the policies and interests of the state or belief contemptuously.  That seems to be the motivation behind the Vatican's refusal to accept the apology at face value:

One highly-placed source in the Vatican said: “This could have very severe repercussions and is embarrassing for the British government - one has to question whether the action taken is enough.


“It is disgusting. Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See has been in to see the Secretary of State and explain what happened and this will all be relayed to the Pope.

“It’s even possible the trip could be cancelled as this matter is hugely offensive.”

Cardinal Renato Martino, the former head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said: “The British government has invited the Pope as its guest and he should be treated with respect.

“To make a mockery of his beliefs and the beliefs of millions of Catholics not just in Britain but across the world is very offensive indeed.”

Further, it says a lot about British culture - and presumably Western culture generally - where this one particular leader of this one particular religion can reflexively, without any particular malice, with only a generalized malice that is deeply stained into the popular psyche can be made the butt of unfunny jokes.  One notes for example the current kerfuffle about South Park's threatened depiction of an image of the Prophet.

Presumably, the British Foreign Secretary staffer would have realized jokes about taking the Dalai Lama to a meat processing facility or serving a leading Muslim religious figure pork sausages were "beyond the pale."