Memo row: UK Foreign Office appoints diplomat to oversee Pope visit

London, May 2 (ANI): A senior British diplomat has been placed in charge of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain in an attempt to reassure Catholics dismayed by a memo mocking the Pope.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has appointed former Ambassador to Macedonia and Cambodia George Edgar to oversee the historic tour, The Telegraph reports.

Edgar, 50, will replace Anjoum Noorani, 31, who has been suspended after his involvement with a memo, leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, suggesting Pope Benedict XVI should open an abortion clinic, bless a homosexual marriage and launch his own range of condoms.

The document was e-mailed to Downing Street and to three government departments by Steven Mulvain, a 23-year-old Oxford graduate, with Noorani's blessing.

Senior Catholic bishops have expressed their dismay at "offensive" suggestions made in the memo. (ANI)