The Pope at Westminster

In this report by Sky News we see the Pope at Westminster Abbey, where Kings and Queens are crowned and at Westminster Hall, where the common law courts began, where both Sir Thomas Moore and King Charles I were tried.

In his address to the Parliament and all living former British Prime Ministers, His Holiness said:

I am conscious of the privilege afforded me to speak to the British people and their representatives in Westminster Hall, a building of unique significance in the civil and political history of the people of these islands.

Allow me also to express my esteem for the Parliament which has existed on this site for centuries and which has had such a profound influence on the development of participative government among the nations, especially in the Commonwealth and the English-speaking world at large.

Your common law tradition serves as the basis of legal systems in many parts of the world, and your particular vision of the respective rights and duties of the state and the individual, and of the separation of powers, remains an inspiration to many across the globe.

As I speak to you in this historic setting, I think of the countless men and women down the centuries who have played their part in the momentous events that have taken place within these walls and have shaped the lives of many generations of Britons, and others besides.