The Foreign Office has apologised over an internal Foreign Office memo about September’s papal visit to Britain, written by 23-year-old Oxford graduate Steven Mulvain, who emailed the document to Downing Street and three Whitehall departments together with a covering letter in which he warned recipients that the contents “should not be shared externally” because they included “even the most far-fetched of ideas”.

The memorandum suggested Pope might like to start a helpline for abused children, sack “dodgy” bishops, open an abortion ward, launch his own brand of condoms, preside at a civil partnership, perform forward rolls with children, apologise for the Spanish armada and sing a song with the Queen.

The memo was leaked, though, and details of it were printed in the Sunday Telegraph. In a statement, the Foreign Office said: “This is clearly a foolish document that does not in any way reflect UK government or Foreign Office policy or views. Many of the ideas … are clearly ill-judged, naive and disrespectful.”

In Italy, La Stampa reported the story under the headline “Too much humour, we’re British”. It described the proposals as “intentionally absurd” but said the memo “certainly hasn’t helped improve the anti-papal feeling that certain sectors are trying to feed in Great Britain ahead of the pope’s visit”.