Pope to visit Britain

The news stories of a papal visit to Great Britain splashed round the websites of the daily newspapers in Britain, and other news services, late this afternoon. It will be a great blessing to our country and I am sure that the presence of the Holy Father and his wise words will bring about an increase of faith, and a deepening of the spiritual and liturgical life of the Church. Please pray for the visit to be a great success.

Thanks to Fr John Boyle at Caritas in Veritate for some links which I followed up to compare how the various outlets described the genesis of the story.

The Sun "can reveal" it from "Government sources"

Reuters relies on a "Government source"

The BBC has simply "learned" of the news

Sky News, of course has it from its own "Sky sources"

Associated Press has a little more, saying that reporters travelling to New York with Gordon Brown reported the news

The Times, the Telegraph and the Guardian simply report the news as fact.

Since this is apparently to be a full state visit, the official announcement will be made in this country by Buckingham Palace and that will probably be co-ordinated with the Vatican. I'm not sure what purpose was served by a Government source leaking the news to journalists in advance: I suppose someone gained some advantage by doing so. Such is life.

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