No triumph, but tour turns out better than feared

THE level of anxiety ahead of the Pope’s visit to Britain meant anything short of a disaster would be seen as something of a success from the Vatican’s point of view.

Which means there must be a heavy sigh of relief hanging over Rome right now because while the pontiff did not perform a miracle, he did manage to deflect at least some of the tide of anger which had threatened to turn his tour of Scotland and England into a wash-out.

The omens were bad from the start when one of his closest aides, Cardinal Kasper, abandoned the four day visit after comparing Britain to a “Third World country”.