Before leaving office, Prime Minister Tony Blair used his last official foreign engagement to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, in the hopes of possibly becoming a Roman Catholic like his wife. However, the conversion is not going as smoothly as Blair had expected.

The Vatican says Prime Minister Blair, after talking with the pope for more than half an hour, had received a “frank exchange of views” over his record in office. This language is unusual for the Vatican, which normally describes meetings with heads of state as “cordial”, leading one to believe that Blair was handed some heavy criticism by the pontiff.

Vatican sources said that the pope remains unmoved in his view that Blair was wrong over Iraq. Pope Benedict holds Catholic politicians to a high standard, even more so than Pope John Paul II, saying they cannot separate their public lives from their private lives. Are you paying attention Giuliani?

The Vatican made no mention of a change of faith for Blair, who is Anglican. Blair himself later said his conversion was “unresolved”, adding; “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s difficult with some of these things.” Though he may not technically be able to excommunicate Blair, as he is not a Catholic yet, the pope does have the power to deny his conversion, at least until he has properly repented.

source 1
source 2