When Pope Benedict visits this country next year, he is expected to stay at Buckingham Palace as a guest of the Queen.The warmth of her welcome will come as no surprise to the Pontiff, if senior sources at the Vatican are to be believed.
According to informants quoted in The Catholic Herald, the Queen has "grown increasingly sympathetic" to the Catholic Church over the years while being "appalled", along with the Prince of Wales, at developments in the Church of England.
The usually well-informed newspaper adds that the Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the C of E, is "also said to have an affinity with the Holy Father, who is of her generation".
In July, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that the Queen had told the heads of a traditionalist group, formed in response to the liberal direction of some parts of the Anglican Communion, that she "understood their concerns" about the future of the 80 million-strong global church.
One leading evangelical said: "We found the letters very supportive."
Her intervention was predicted to have surprised many because the group, called the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, was feared by some to be a divisive force and one of its senior figures was this accused of being homophobic.
The then Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, called on homosexuals to repent. He said the Church of England must stick to the Biblical teaching that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
"We want to hold on to the traditional teaching of the Church," he said. "We don't want to be rolled over by culture and trends in the Church," said the bishop, who was one of the most senior religious figures in England.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman declines to comment.
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