The Papal Visit Website

Blogged by James Preece on 17th August 2010

The Papal Visit website is being criticised by Fr Blake and Mr Bones and I agree with them. Click on their names to find out more about that.

This is the Papal Visit website that lifted it's logo from Wikipedia. Very professional, though not as professional as whacking said freely available wiki-graphic on a t-shirt and then asking Ł18 for it.

Did they hope nobody would notice? Just because they flipped it around to put the golden key on the right? Why would they do that? I can't help noticing that on the Vatican website all the golden keys are on the left (e.g. here and here)

The license on Wikipedia allows you to use the graphic "for any purpose" so don't buy the official merchandise - download the highly detailed scalable vector graphic from Wikipedia and make your own.

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Reader Comments

epsilon said...

James if you look at this you will see that the gold on the right was for the Papal States but the current one is as follows http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/img/ss_scv/insigne/santa-sede_stemma.gif

-1

James said...

Interesting... I wonder why they didn't change that for the Papal arms.

epsilon said...

Actually it was wikipedia also that showed the Papal States with gold on the left - it appears there were many different flags down through the centuries. But if you scroll down http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/sp_ss_scv/insigne/sp_ss_scv_stemma-bandiera-sigillo_en.html#Flag%20of%20the%20Vatican%20City%20State to just above "Seal
of the State of Vatican City" it says:

"Since the XIV Century, the two crossed keys have been the official insignia of the Holy See. The gold one, on the right, alludes to the power in the kingdom of the heavens, the silver one, on the left, indicates the spiritual authority of the papacy on earth. The mechanisms are turned up towards the heaven and the grips turned down, in other words into the hands of the Vicar of Christ. The cord with the bows that unites the grips alludes to the bond between the two powers."

here we go again said...

looks like you've got the wrong end of the stick again jamsie.
i suppose it's too much to expect an apology

James said...

An apology for what? For wondering aloud why the Papal Visit people flipped the graphic from Wikipedia?

I'm still a bit puzzled. Why is the gold key on the left on the Papal coat of arms but on the right when the keys are shown alone?

Ted said...

The right end of the stick must be difficult to find - witness the majority of the bishops.

"Who knows what's down the road?" - heck of a lot of us do.

Ludolphus said...

Here is a comment from:

http://flagspot.net/flags/va).html

"The position of the gold key isn't so important. In fact during the history, both versions can be found: dexter key: gold and sinister key silver or vice versa. But more important: at first, in the history of this coat of arms, there wasn't any gold key: both were silver (see for instance in the Cathedral of Bourges the picture of the Church coat of arms which is accompanying the achievements of the anti-popes Clement VII and Benedict XIII). Then came a time where gold keys are to be found and finally the present usage of placing a gold key in bend across silver one in bend sinister slowly makes its way, but it is to be noted that the relative positions are sometimes reversed. The colour of the field also varied: the field is almost always red, ccasionally blue.
So, having gold in dexter and silver in sinister isn't important. Why would be a key more important than the other, as we also know that there wasn't any gold key at first? I think the coat of arms is normal as this case occurred in the past for the Church coat of arms (now, the coat of arms of the State of the City of Vatican), or maybe is it a reproduction error, the picture being inverted, as it can happen sometimes.
Source: - Galbreath, Donald Lindsay: "Papal Heraldry", second edition revised by Geoffrey Briggs, Heraldry Today, London 1972.
Pascal Vagnat, 16 December 1997"

I do not vouch for the accuracy of the Mr Vagnat though...

Michael said...

Whilst I accept that there are cheaper ways to manufacture one's own version of the t-shirt, isn't the point that, by buying from the official store, we are helping out in some small way with the very significant cost of the event?

Sure, if the cost to clothe a family in Papal gear is excessive, then do it yourself, but encouraging a widespread boycott is a bit much.

James said...

But when you can get 250 printed t-shirts for 85 pence each don't you think Ł18 is a bit of a mark up?!? For individual one-off orders a quick google will find places doing them at Ł6.95 each.

If money is a problem, why are they giving everybody a free CD?

Michael said...

It's a ginormous mark-up! But, that's not the point.

And, it appears The Papal Visit has been granted a UK trademark for the image of the Papal keys and the phrase “Heart Speaks Unto Heart”. I don't know what that means for printing your own...

Re: the CDs, I agree - a really badly misjudged decision. They could have put a podcast thingy online and anyone that wanted it could have downloaded it.

Ted said...

Does anyone know exactly what percentage is being paid by the official merchandising outfits (and whether that percentage is being paid on turnover or profits)? This would seem to determine whether one is making any contribution to the visit by buying from them.

Sophia said...

The t-shirt cost is another indication of little thought being given to families. No, we are not asking for hand-outs or freebees but this is unnecessary.

I would be more than willing to contribute to the cost of the Vicar of Christ coming to Britain if it weren't for the fact that so much of the money collected by the hierarchy from us in the pews is misused - one of the most glaring examples of which is the Catholic Education Service.

Troy said...

I too am now very sceptical of anything that I am asked to contribute to and I reserve the right to think long and hard before putting my hand in my pocket.

After all who is it pays Jack Valero and finances 'Catholic' Voices to feed us diluted Blairite catholicism and punish those who stand up for the Faith handed to us by Our Lord?

Sophia said...

The hierarchy would do well to read Ella's entry on the Talents.

sheeple said...

the sheep or lamb next to catholic and loving it???
yeah because most catholics are sheeps to there authority