The Catholic Church in England and Wales has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit Britain.

It is too soon to say either in what that visit might consist, or whether it would be feasible, given the Pope’s commitments and the many invitations he has already received from across the world.

But the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, is keen that the Pope be aware of how delighted the British people would be should he feel able to accept.