Great Brainstorming Session Results in Apology

Pope receives apology from UK Foreign Office for 'condom' memo

Internal Foreign Office memo filled with ironic suggestions about the pope's September visit to the UK has prompted an official apology to the Vatican

• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 25 April 2010 13.51 

The Foreign Office has apologised over a jokey internal memo written by junior staff suggesting the pope should open an abortion clinic during his visit and start a child abuse line. Photograph: Giuseppe Giglia/EPA

An internal Foreign Office memo about this September's papal visit to Britain which started as a Friday afternoon joke, today has resulted in a formal government apology to the Vatican.
The memorandum, apparently written following a brainstorming session by a group of junior civil servants planning events for the four-day visit by Pope Benedict XVI, suggested among other ideas that he 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.