In a symbolic gesture, the pope has given the Queen a copy of The Codex Aureus of Lorsch, a priceless manuscriptIn a symbolic gesture, the pope has given the Queen a copy of a priceless manuscript that was ripped apart because of the bloody historical divisions between Roman Catholics and Protestants.
The Codex Aureus of Lorsch is a gospel book from the pope's native Germany. It was illuminated by monks between the late 8th and early 9th centuries in an abbey south of Frankfurt.
During the 30 years war, the calamitous, religiously motivated conflict that followed the Reformation, it was stolen from a library in Heidelberg.
The covers were torn off and, to make it easier to sell on the 17th-century black market, the illuminated text itself was ripped into two parts.
One half is now in Romania. The other is in the Vatican library. And the richly decorated back cover is in the Victoria and Albert museum in London.
The facsimile given to the Queen will be of the entire work.
The pope's choice of gift was disclosed by his spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, at a pre-visit briefing for correspondents in the Vatican today.
But he made no allusion to the codex's significance.
SIC: TG/UK