A petition calling for the Pope to pay for his own visit to Britain has received more than 20,000 signatures.

Publisher’s note: The petition in question is on the National Secular Society’s own website. Foremost among the signatories on the day of the story’s publication was someone called ‘Thepopes Afascist’. Meanwhile on the on the 10 Downing Street site, a petition from Niall Milligan asking the Pope to pay for his own visit had received only 793 signatures, while another from Peter Tatchell to "disassociate the British government from the Pope’s intolerant views" had been signed by 2952.

The estimated £20 million cost of the four-day visit to these shores, which begins in Edinburgh, will largely be met by the taxpayer.

But National Secular Society president Terry Sanderson said: "We thought when we heard the Pope was coming there must be an element of hostility to it from the groups he has criticised and made life difficult for, so we decided we would put this petition online.

"We thought we would get a few hundred signatures but we now have more than 20,000.

"We have a slot to deliver the petition to Downing Street on March 4.

"We’re not saying don’t come, but we think it should be a pastoral visit funded by the church and not a state visit funded by the taxpayer."

A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said: "This is a state visit at the invitation of the UK Government and so the standard approach is they will fund the cost.

"There might be some costs to the Catholic Church – that’s still to be decided.

"Where do the objections come from? The chronic weakness of online petitions is that fictional characters from anywhere can sign.

"The important thing is to establish the true level of opposition that really exists. It’s likely to be minimal and marginal."

• Full story at the Sunday Mail.

• Filed under Papal Visit, Roman Catholic Church, Scottish Christian News Monitor, Secularism.