§ 5 Mr. ISAAC FOOTasked the First Lord of the Admiralty (1) whether there is any precedent for the recent amendment of the King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions directing that salutes shall be fired from His Majesty's ships, forts, and batteries in honour of the Pope and his nuncios, internuncios, and legates met with at sea or arriving at or quitting any place in His Majesty's Dominions; and, further, if this direction is to be enforced in Northern Ireland;
(2) how and from what source commanding officers of His Majesty's ships and superintendents in charge of His Majesty's naval establishments are to obtain the information necessary as to the relative status of papal legates whom they are required to salute with the appropriate gunfire, in accordance with the recent amendment of the King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions;
(3) if he is aware that in the recent amendment of the King's Regulations and Naval Instructions the Pope and his nuncios, internuncios, and legates are stated not to be entitled to military honours; and what ground there is for this restriction in view of the direction contained in the amended regulations that these persons must receive salutes from British vessels and naval establishments appropriate to their rank?
§ The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY(Sir Bolton Eyres-Monsell)Since the Lateran Treaty was signed in 1929, the Pope, as temporal sovereign of the 1964 Vatican City, has been entitled to a salute. This right extends to his representatives having diplomatic status, and has no territorial limitation. The salute does not imply any recognition of the ecclesiastical status of the Pope or his representatives. Instructions in this sense were issued to the Fleet in 1929, and they have recently, as a matter of routine, been formally incorporated in the King's Regulations. If there is any doubt as to the diplomatic status of a Papal Legate, the responsible officer will obtain directions from the Admiralty, who will, if necessary, consult the Foreign Office. The phrase "military honours" as used in the King's Regulations means not honours given by the Army, but honours appropriate to non-civilian personages, namely, reception with a guard and band. These are normally given only to Sovereigns, Royal personages, Viceroys and Governors, and senior officers of Defence Services, whether British or foreign: they are not given to diplomatic personages.
§ Mr. FOOTBefore these amendments were made, were the Law Officers of the Crown consulted as to how far the amendments were consistent with our existing law?
Colonel CROOKSHANKWould not an impossible situation be created if any religious discrimination were made in the instructions to the armed forces?
Sir B. EYRES MONSELLYes, I agree with the last supplementary question. In answer to the first, as far as I am aware, the Law Officers were not consulted. I do not think it was necessary.
§ Mr. LOVAT-FRASERCan the right hon. Gentleman tell us what Oliver Cromwell did about the Pope?