Mass Ruled Out : Charles, Di Visit Pope

Prince Charles and Princess Diana met with Pope John Paul II in a private audience today, but a Vatican source reported that a request by the couple to attend a papal Mass was overruled by Buckingham Palace.

The pontiff and the royal couple smiled for photographers and appeared pleased at the end of the 35-minute audience, held in John Paul’s library.

In an exchange of gifts, Charles presented the Pope with “Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People,” which was written by the English historian and theologian in 731--eight centuries before King Henry VIII broke with Rome and established the Church of England.

Pope Familiar With Book

“I’m sure you are familiar with this work,” Charles said. The Pope said he was and that Bede was “a great person of the common and universal church.”

The Pope gave the couple a copy of an original mosaic in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome of the Madonna Salus Romani Popoli, protectress of Rome.

A Vatican source said the office of the Most Rev. Robert Runcie, archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual head of the Church of England, had written the Vatican saying the royal couple would like to attend a papal Mass.

The Vatican replied that it would make the arrangements, the source said. However, Buckingham Palace later contacted the Vatican saying a papal audience would be sufficient, the source said.