Blair, Present to Pope fuels speculation of R.C. conversion

rome, 25 giu (Velino) - Tony Blair delighted the Pope last week-end by giving the pontiff a signed photograph of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the famed convert to Catholicism, but the Holy See in a statement gently rapped the Prime Minister on the knuckles over legislation obliging Catholic adoption agencies to accept homosexual parents.

Benedict welcomed Blair and his wife Cherie in the library of his private apartment in the Apostolic Palace Saturday for a private audience seen as a farewell meeting at the end of his period of office. "Thank you so much for receiving me," Blair, looking moved, said to the Pope, explaining that he had just arrived in Rome from an all night session of the Council of Europe in Brussels. "I've heard it was very successful," the pontiff replied.

"Yes, but it was a very long night. We finished up at 5:30 in the morning," said Blair. The mood was relaxed, cordial and chatty as the Pope invited Blair to be seated for a photo session before they held 25 minutes of private talks. "I sometimes think that all our life is lived on film now," the Prime Minister told the Pope. "It is also that everyone has these little cameras," Blair, dressed in a dark blue single-breasted suit, added.

Watched by a pool of reporters from the Vatican press corps, Blair presented Benedict with three original portrait photographs of Cardinal Newman, the leading light of the Oxford Movement who is an icon for English Catholics and one of the nation's most illustrious converts. One of the photographs was signed by Newman.

"Holy Father, that is his signature," Cherie, dressed in a black twin suit, black veil and slightly heeled shoes, told the Pope. The pontiff gave Blair a gold medallion recording his pontificate in a white presentation box.

A Vatican statement said that "during the conversations, some significant contributions made by Prime Minister Blair during his 10 years in Government were recalled. There followed a frank exchange of views on the current international situation, not neglecting to deal with especially delicate questions such as the conflict in the Middle East and the future of the European Union following the summit in Brussels."

The statement by the Holy See added, however, that the two men had "an exchange of opinions on some laws that recently were approved by the parliament of the United Kingdom." Vatican sources said this was a reference to the British Government's insistence that Catholic adoption associations conform to legislation granting equal rights to same sex couples, as well as to legislation on stem cell research disapproved of by the Vatican.

After what may have been a slight dressing down for a would-be convert, "wishes for every good thing were formulated to the Hon. Anthony Blair as he prepares to leave his post as Prime Minister, taking into account that he expressed his strong desire to make a personal commitment for peace in the middle East and for inter-religious dialogue," the Vatican said.
After their private talks, Blair and the Pope were joined by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the English Primate, for a further 10 minutes of talks. Blair also had a meeting with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, effectively the prime minister of the pope's tiny city state.

About 11 aides and advisors milled around in the Pope's apartment on the fringes of the audience including Frances Campbell, the British Ambassador to the Holy See who recently became the first Roman Catholic diplomat to hold that post since the Reformation.
After the audience the Blairs crossed the Tiber to have lunch at the Venerable English College, the seminary for English young men training for the priesthood that produced a number of martyrs who were executed in England during the reformation.