Gordon Brown was left embarrassed after the Pope appeared to decline his invitation to visit Britain. After an audience with Pope Benedict XVI lasting more than 35 minutes - far longer than scheduled – the Prime Minister emerged from the Vatican praising the pontiff’s warmth and suggesting that he would come to Britain in the Autumn or early next year.
Within hours, Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman had flatly denied that any such visit was being planned.
"For the moment, no travel by Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom is scheduled or under consideration," he said.
Vatican sources later said that Father Lombardi's remarks were not a "snub" to Mr Brown but an indication that no date has been set for a UK trip.
Mr Brown said he realised that the Pope had a "full calendar" this year, including visits to Africa and the Holy Land.
The last Papal visit was in 1982 under Pope John Paul II.
Mr Brown earlier said he was touched by the Pope’s kindness in also receiving his wife Sarah and their two children at the Vatican.
He indicated that the Pope's visit to Britain could be timed to coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the nineteenth century Anglican convert to Catholicism. He said he had told the pontiff that "many millions of people" would welcome his visit and that it would be a great moment for the country.
The invitation was supposed to bring an upbeat conclusion to an amicable visit.
The Holy See said in a brief statement that Mr Brown and the Pope had had a "cordial" private conversation about the financial crisis "and the duty to pursue initiatives benefiting the less developed countries, and to foster cooperation on projects of human promotion, respect for the environment and sustainable development".
In an unprecedented gesture, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, carried a front page article on the financial crisis by Mr Brown ahead of the Papal visit.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, who also met Mr Brown, confirmed that he was the first serving Prime Minister to be given this honour.
Mr Brown was received in private audience by Pope Benedict, who impressed upon him that the flow of aid to the developing world must be kept up.
Mr Brown said he had agreed with the Pope that when it came to the world's poor "we cannot pass by on the other side" - a reference to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
He gave the Pope a framed copy of a letter from an Ethiopian woman, thanking him for purchasing the first Vaccine Bond issued by the International Finance Facility (IFF), which Mr Brown helped to set up.
"This is tangible proof of the common commitment of the Holy See and the United Kingdom in favour of international development," Mr Brown said. "Thanks to this bond more than $1.6bn (£1.1bn) has been subscribed, and 500 million children will have been vaccinated between 2006 and 2011".
Mr Brown gave the Pope a collection of sermons by his father, a minister in the Church of Scotland, on a previous visit to Rome. This time he also gave him a cross from Iona.
It is thought the two discussed the forthcoming appointment of a new Archbishop of Westminster to replace Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, who has already exceeded the mandatory retirement age of 75.
Caritas International, the Vatican-backed Catholic aid charity, said it hoped Gordon Brown's talks with the Pope would "inspire him and other G8 leaders to become newly dedicated to solidarity for the poor amidst the global economic crisis".
The secretary general of Caritas International, Lesley-Anne Knight, said: "2009 will determine what kind of world we live in when the economic crisis has passed. The leaders of the world do not have to use the financial problems as an excuse to cut off aid, but rather as an opportunity to reform globalisation in a greater effort for development and justice. When 70 per cent of your financing for health care services comes from foreign donations, as is the case with many African countries, cutting off aid could cost lives".
Mr Brown later met Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, who said although world leaders agreed on key principles they were still "very far" from a solution to the global economic crisis.
"Everybody says that they must act in a coordinated way and change the rules of international finance and not fall into the trap of protectionism," Mr Berlusconi said.
"But then, when it comes to deciding what to do really, we're far from finding out what to do really and very far from a satisfactory solution."
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(Source: TTUK)