Charging for religious visits

[sawyl]

The Archbishop of Westminster condemns complaints about the cost of the forthcoming papal visit:

But Archbishop Nichols told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme it was right the taxpayer and the Church shared the bill because the Pope was coming at the invitation of the government.

"It is a state visit, and the day that this country closes its doors and says we can't afford state visits is a very sad day because it would be a real gesture of isolationism," he said.

Fine. Next time we decide to invite a religious leader to visit, let's ask one with enough money to spring for his own airfare. Like, say, George Lucas...