N. Ireland Leader Vows to Disrupt Pontiff’s Speech
STRASBOURG, France — The Rev. Ian Paisley, a radical Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, said Monday that he will disrupt an address by Pope John Paul II to the European Parliament.
“I will protest,” the vociferous preacher-politician told a rowdy session of the Strasbourg-based parliament. “I am not apologizing for my Protestantism and never will.”
Parliament president Lord Henry Plumb warned Paisley that he risks being thrown out of the assembly if he intervenes during the pontiff’s speech today.
Paisley, leader of a large faction in the troubled British province, is a member of the 518-seat assembly, which is made up of representatives of the 12-nation European Communities.
The Pope’s speech is expected to stress the concept of a unified Christian Europe. But Paisley seemed to be ready to disrupt any talk of unity, saying he will remind the Pope of the “millions tortured and killed” by the Catholic Church in its drive against heretics during the Spanish Inquisition.
He also said he will protest what he called Catholic oppression of the Irish Republic’s tiny Protestant minority.
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