The Vatican has demanded that The Times retract a "completely untrue" story that Pope Benedict XVI planned to present a "luxury facsimile" of the 1530 appeal by English peers to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
So The Times has apparently been hoaxed twice in 24 hours. By someone claiming that the Papal Nuncio had been rushed to hospital and that his reception was cancelled; and by someone claiming that the Pope was planning to present the Prince of Wales with a supremely undiplomatic present reminding him of the royal divorce leading to England's breach with Rome. (Hat tip: CNS.)
The conspiracy theory doing the rounds: a mad hoaxer is trying to punish the Times for the anti-Catholic tone of some of its recent reporting. How very weird.
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