The Pope has publicly scolded Britain's equality laws, just months ahead of a £20million state-funded visit here in September.
The head of the Roman Catholic church, Benedict XVI, claimed in an open letter to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales that legislation protecting the rights of gay couples are a violation of natural law.
He also denounced Harriet Harman's Equality Bill, which is currently going through parliament, adding: ""The effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal
has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious
communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects
it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all
human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."
Naturally, the comments angered both non-religious groups and equality activists.
"Pope Benedict is unhappy with the new rights and protections afforded to women and LGBT people. He objects to the fact that religious institutions can no longer lawfully discriminate at will on the grounds of gender and sexual orientation," said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
"The Pope's criticism that British equality legislation 'violates the natural law' is a coded attack on the legal rights granted to women and gay people. It is a de facto defence of faith-based discrimination. His ill-informed claim that our equality laws undermine religious freedom suggests that he supports the right of faith organisations to discriminate in accordance with their religious ethos. He seems to be defending discrimination by religious institutions and demanding that they should be above the law," he added.
"They will especially resent the fact that the UK government is asking taxpayers to cough up around £20 million to finance his visit. This money would be far better spent on schools and hospitals."
As a result of the comments, the National Secular Society have launched an online petition which asks the Catholic church to fund the visit, rather than the British taxpayer.
So far, over 2,000 have signed the notion, which can be read here: http://www.secularism.org.uk/petition-the-pm.html