I petition for the Pope's visit to the UK be cancelled. On moral as well as financial grounds. The Pope's visit to the UK is going to cost us taxpayers in excess of £12million. By what right do they impose this visit at our expense? For a country that is currently cutting back vital on civil servant pay schemes, creating thousands of redundancies, with the highest rate of unemployment in it's history - it is really wise to spend £12million on letting this homophobic, bigoted man into our country. We cannot afford such indulgence at a time when our Government tells us that we have to suffer the pain of public sector cuts. This £12million could be used to save our economy from this crippling recession, it could be used to help more needy people struggling to live on state pensions, or the NHS which is already struggling to make ends meet? The cost of this September visit could fund the (now scrapped) expansion of school meals for 500,000 more children for the entire month of September. We should not be coughing up for a party for an octogenarian who who recently showed public support for suspected child abusers, who blamed gay men and women for the wrongs in our society etc etc. Never mind the fact that the UK is hardly a Catholic state. With the CEO being Protestant. We embrace gay men, multicultural activities and should not tolerate spending £12million on a man with such archaic views on socitey. Think about it if you're a Christian, what would Jesus do? He'd give the money to the poor, not the pope. For proof of people's hatred for this entire event, please click on http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/05/popes-uk-visit-cost-12m