Lord Patten is to take over the organisation of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain for the Government.The former Governor of Hong Kong and European Commissioner, who is now Chancellor of Oxford University, will work with teams from the Roman Catholic church and the Cabinet Office.
As a Catholic as well as an experienced diplomat, ministers believe he will be able to get the first ever papal state visit to Britain back on track following a series of setbacks.
One church insider described his appointment, to be confirmed by Downing Street next week, as “inspired”, adding: “He is liked by all sides and can be a bridge between the state and the church.”
It emerged this week that key aspects of the three-day tour in September could be scaled back or even cancelled if the Church cannot raise the money needed, originally estimated at £7m but now said to have doubled.
The highlight of the trip was due to be the beatification of England’s most famous convert to Rome, Cardinal Newman, before 200,000 pilgrims at Coventry Airport. But it is now possible that the Mass could take place at a seminary near Birmingham in front of just 10,000.
A prayer vigil was meant to take place in Hyde Park but Royal Parks said no such event has been booked.
Civil servants working on the organisation had to be replaced after one wrote an offensive memo suggesting that the pontiff launches a range of condoms or visits an abortion clinic.
Benedict XVI’s ambassador to Britain, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, has been transferred to a hospital in Spain following his stroke last month, raising further doubts about his involvement in the plans.
It can also be disclosed that Labour’s favourite events management company has been employed by the Church along with a former aide to Tony Blair.
WRG, based in Manchester, was paid £7.4m to stage the G20 summit of world leaders in London last year.
It also received an estimated £500,000 from taxpayers for “choreographing” the handover of power from Mr Blair to Gordon Brown three years ago, despite criticism that it should have been paid for by the Labour Party.
Magi Cleaver, who worked as a press officer in Downing Street under Labour, has been taken on by the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales to act as a consultant for the historic trip.
She helped Mr Blair on foreign trips, on one occasion finding him an unwrinkled suit to wear after he got off a plane in Bangladesh, and earned the soubriquet “Sergeant Magi” from the Italian media when she guarded a villa in Tuscany where the premier stayed one summer.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church of England and Wales insisted that it had approached Mrs Cleaver rather than the Government, and that there had been a tendering process that led to the appointment of WRG.
He said Mrs Cleaver was acting as an adviser, with no executive power, while WRG would arrange the staging of public events involving the Pope.
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