Pope tour report denied by Church

The Mirror said Pope Benedict XVI would visit Britain next year

A report that Pope Benedict is to tour Britain has been denied by the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

The Daily Mirror said a visit would take place in September 2007. The last papal visit to the UK was in 1982.

The Archbishop of Westminster has invited the Pope to visit, but his office denied this had been accepted.

"Archbishop's House has had no indication from Rome if Pope Benedict will visit the UK, nor, if he were to, when that would be," it stated.

Last week it was revealed that the Pope had been invited to visit by the church in England and Wales.

Feasible

In a statement the Archbishop, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said he was keen that the Pope be made aware of the delight a visit would bring to British people.

But it added that it was too soon to say what a visit might consist of, or whether it would be feasible.

Pope Benedict's predecessor Pope John Paul II toured Britain in 1982.

But it is understood that is "very unlikely" that any visit by Pope Benedict XVI would coincide with the 25th anniversary celebrations of the 1982 visit.

Pope Benedict, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was elected last April following the death of Pope John Paul.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, president of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, said that, in the event of the invitation being accepted, the pontiff would be urged to "spend some time in Scotland where he would be welcomed most warmly".