Opponents reject ‘overdose of religiosity’

AS the world prepared for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, some Europeans have questioned the deluge of ecstatic praise for the pontiff as well as the participation of scores of heads of state.

After allowing the outpouring of emotion for the Pope, who headed the Catholic Church for 26 years, some elected officials on the left in France and in Spain have begun raising concerns about acts of official mourning by their secular states.

In France, where politicians are always sensitive to the separation of church and state, the Greens on the Paris municipal council found it “completely inappropriate” to lower the French flag at public buildings, even calling it an “abuse of power” by the French president.