Pope not at home as Brown arrives in Vatican

GORDON Brown will today travel to the Vatican seeking a Papal blessing for his plans to combat global poverty. Sadly for the Scottish manse’s most famous son, the leader of the world’s Catholics will not be at home to receive him.

Despite the Chancellor’s long-standing - and much lauded - plans to fly to the Vatican City, it emerged last night that John Paul II will not be able to meet him, because he will be at his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo.

Instead, Mr Brown will have to make do with 60 senior cardinals. The honour of being the last Scottish politician to meet the Pope will remain with Henry McLeish, the former first minister. While Treasury officials last night insisted there was never any plan for Mr Brown to meet the Pope, allies of the Chancellor have been anonymously briefing newspapers for several weeks that such an audience would indeed take place.

The Chancellor had hoped that the Pope would personally endorse his plans to combat third-world poverty, but Treasury officials said that the Pontiff - who has Parkinson’s disease - needs to "recuperate" in the Alps.

When he meets the cardinals, Mr Brown will discuss the International Finance Facility, which would see governments around the world borrowing money from international markets in the form of bonds, which would then be used to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The Treasury calculates that the scheme would raise double aid from rich to poor countries by 2015.

The plan has already been backed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the most senior Roman Catholic in England and Wales, and Mr Brown had hoped to add to the international plaudits he has won for the idea by receiving the Pope’s personal approval.

Mr Brown used a speech in London yesterday to underline his determination to fight child poverty at home too. "My experience of government has not diminished my desire to tackle child poverty but made me more determined to do more," he said.

"So on Monday I will be able to announce the next stage in our policies for tackling child poverty and for helping the development of the potential of every child."

Mr Brown’s visit to the Vatican has attracted attention at Westminster from observers of the Chancellor’s ambitions to replace Tony Blair, whose trip to the Vatican last year included a private audience with the Pope and Mass in his private chapel.

Mr Brown’s visit comes as the Treasury’s talks with Whitehall departments about next week’s spending round go down to the wire.

The overall spending limit has already been set and the allocation for major services like health and education has been made, making this spending review more predictable than most.

Among the certainties is a massive boost for public spending in Scotland, something the Chancellor may reflect on as he enters the Pope’s domain: after Monday, the Vatican City is the only place in Europe where government spending per head will be higher than Scotland’s.