The Times hoaxed twice

Comment: a bizarre story. First Ruth Gledhill was suckered into reporting that the Papal Nuncio had been rushed to hospital, leading to the cancellation of his annual reception at Archbishop's House to celebrate the Pope's birthday, last evening.

Now the Times Rome correspondent, Richard Owen, has been taken for a ride over a story saying, completely untruly, that the Pope is planning to give the Prince of Wales a copy of a historical document relating to the divorce between Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon.

The Times has very little credibility left as a reporter of Catholic affairs. One might hope that basic story checking might be resumed after this fiasco. Perhaps that is the hoaxer's point. It will be interesting to see if the Times apologises.

Ruth Gledhill's ferocious attacks on the Pope following the Williamson affair undermine her role as a reporter on a respectable paper as effectively as her sensationalist misreading of an Anglican document about prospects for unity with Rome a couple of years ago. She really ought to get a job more suited to her talents.

H-T to Holy Smoke.