Pope's funeral an opportunity for world leaders to do more than pay their respects - the PM was always bound to go

SkyNews - 21:49
Sir Keir Starmer doesn't believe in God and Parliament has few Catholic members, but Saturday's funeral in Rome is such a good opportunity for informal talks with other leaders, the prime minister was bound to go.

Sir Keir Starmer says he doesn't believe in God and US President Donald Trump rarely speaks of religion. But both will attend the Pope's funeral.

After all, Catholics are the second biggest religious group in both countries, with six million in the UK and more than 50 million in the US.

Here in the UK, regular church going is reported to be up from 8% to 12%, while the US president said after Pope Francis's death "we're bringing religion back" to America.

Image: Pope Francis at a mass in St Peter's Square earlier this month. Pic: AP

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Politicians - and indeed church leaders - take note.

Yet Catholics are relatively under-represented in the House of Commons, even more so after last year's Labour landslide when several prominent Catholic Tories were defeated.

Surprisingly, Boris Johnson was the UK's first Catholic prime minister, converting after almost two years in Number 10 before marrying his Catholic bride, Carrie Symonds.

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Tony Blair, who in his early life was a Durham Cathedral chorister, became a Catholic after leaving Downing Street.

His wife Cherie is Catholic.

That was despite his spin doctor Alastair Campbell notoriously telling an interviewer who asked about Mr Blair's faith: "We don't do God."

Gordon Brown was famously a "son of the manse" - his father was a Presbyterian minister - and Theresa May's father was a Church of Englan...
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