Letters | 16 March 2017

Pope Francis’s mission

Sir: Despite Damian Thompson’s intimations (‘The plot against the Pope’, 11 March), Pope Francis is going nowhere except onwards and upwards. Jorge Bergoglio has a loving family background which gives him a mature, balanced personality. He is gifted with a fine, open mind, underpinned by an Ignatian spirituality which reminds him of his sinfulness and his constant need for God’s grace. He also has vast experience of the pastoral ministry in the Buenos Aires slums.

No doubt there is a ‘Borgia’ element in the Vatican. This lust for power is not at all what the crucified Christ encouraged in His disciples. As the Pope presses on with the belated but vital reform of the Catholic church, we pray, and he must watch his back.
Father John Buckley
Porchester

When to jump ship

Sir: Surely Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have called for a second referendum too early? If, as they seem to believe, Brexit will be a disaster for the UK economy, then why don’t they wait for that disaster to unfold and then call a referendum when they could almost be guaranteed to win it? As it is, we will probably still be negotiating the terms of our exit next autumn and it must be doubtful that the Scots will be keen to make the decision to jump ship before they know whether it is likely to hit the rocks or not.