Government's tab for Pope visit could climb by £4m

Lord Patten of Barnes, the Prime Minister's special representative for Benedict XVI's visit, said the previous 15m estimated non-police costs of the visit had underestimated the "complexity and sophistication" of a visit combining both state and pastoral elements. He said it was now thought that the Government contribution – previously estimated at 8m –would rise to between 10m and 12m.

"We now reckon that on the Government side that we will have to make a larger commitment even though we have driven down the costs of some elements of the visit," he told a news conference.

He added that he believed the Church would also have to raise more money for the visit.

He was speaking as more details of the visit were revealed at the Foreign Office. The four-day event, between September 16 and September 19, and starting in Scotland, will be the first state visit by a Pope to Britain.

Lord Patten said the visit was "hugely welcomed" by the Government and many people in Britain, not just Catholics. Asked if the present Government would have issued an invitation to the Pope given the current financial climate, he said this would not have been a consideration.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, said around 5m had been raised so far by the Church, made up of 1.1m from collections in parishes and approaching 4m from private donors and other sources.