WE welcome the Pope to Britain. We hope that not only is he able to reach out and build bridges, but also that he is able to hear the very real criticisms of his church.

The argument about whether or not the state should pay is largely spurious. We can still afford to host visiting European football teams and international sports events, so we should still be able to afford to host important political and religious leaders.

We are still a tolerant and welcoming country, and we hope communities everywhere are listening to his message about extending the hand of friendship. There are parts of Britain, be they Catholic, Protestant or Muslim, that are deeply and violently divided by religion. It is a divide which has no place in the 21st Century and it can be bridged by greater friendship and deeper understanding.

The welcome yesterday also showed that to many ordinary Catholics, this visit, like their faith, is extremely important.

We should celebrate that importance, and remind ourselves that even in a cynical world, religion can be a force for the good.

But this is a state visit and so the visitor, the Pope, must be sensitive enough not only to preach but to listen.

Many in Britain do not understand his church’s discriminatory stances on women and homosexuality. They certainly do not understand his view that condoms in Africa are “evil” if they help stop Africans dying from Aids.

The biggest complaint, though, is the church’s failure to respond adequately to sexual abuse.

Paedophilia is a scourge of all society, not only the church, and it may well be that nothing the Pope can do or say on this visit can ever heal the terrible scars that victims bear for all their lives. However, as well as clear evidence that in the past the church has been complicit in cover-ups, it is also true that in the present the church is failing to reach out to comfort its victims.

So we hope that the Pope enjoys his visit and that he takes away some things to reflect on while leaving us with plenty to think about.