…if this is true. Cum grano salis, and all that. But here’s what the Daily Mail is saying about today’s meeting: Lots of "sources say this means" kind of language. But the Pope’s miracle crack is worth noting. Put him and Cardinal Zen together..who knows what would happen?

Tony Blair’s eagerly awaited meeting with the Pope resulted in discomfort for the Prime Minister when he found himself on the receiving end of a stern lecture over his record in office.

During a 25-minute face-to-face audience in the Pontiff’s private apartments, Pope Benedict XVI tackled Mr Blair on the continuing crisis in Iraq and the Middle East.

Italian news agency reports said Pope Benedict also made direct criticism of New Labour laws allowing greater stem cell research on human embryos, easy access to abortion, same-sex marriages, and adoption by gay couples.

Downing Street officials said the issue of gay adoption arose between Mr Blair and senior Vatican figures, not the Pope. But it was nevertheless an unexpected turn of events for Mr Blair, whose visit to the Vatican – his final foreign engagement as Premier – had been widely believed to presage his conversion to Catholicism.

Friction even seemed to emerge as the Pope and Prime Minister appeared in public for the cameras. Mr Blair, joined by his wife Cherie, presented Benedict with a framed set of three antique pictures of Cardinal Newman, who converted in 1845 after more than 20 years in the Church of England clergy and is now a candidate for sainthood.

Mrs Blair said: "I believe you are very familiar with him and he is on the journey to sainthood."

To which the Pope responded: "Yes, yes, although it is taking some time – miracles are hard to come by in Britain."

The gift was seen as a highly significant indication of Mr Blair’s wish to convert to the Catholic faith.

After the meeting, the Pope’s office issued a strongly worded statement, saying the two men had a ‘frank discussion on the international situation, in particular the delicate question of the Middle East conflict’.

The actual wording of the communique contained the Italian phrase ‘franco confronto’, literally translated as ‘frank confrontation’ – inflammatory language seen as highly unusual in Rome.

The statement continued: "At the end, after an exchange of opinions on several laws recently passed by Parliament in Britain, he wished the Honourable Anthony Blair best wishes with regard to the fact he is leaving his position as Prime Minister."

It then commended Mr Blair’s ‘vivid desire to involve himself in particular for peace in the Middle East and for inter-religious dialogue’.

But the statement was seen as indicating the Vatican’s continuing unease with the Iraq conflict, and also recent domestic legislation in Britain. In the language of diplomatic communiquÇs, ‘frank discussion’ is customarily seen as code for an argument.

The statement was all the more surprising because the Vatican always uses carefully controlled language.

Previously, meetings with world leaders including President Bush have been described as ‘warm and cordial’, despite the Vatican’s opposition to many of his policies and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Downing Street later talked in terms of a ‘successful meeting’. A spokesman confirmed: "Private discussions included the Middle East."

American Papist has found video confirmation that the Pope did, indeed, say something like that. You can hear him say, "…it is difficult to make miracles in Britain…" on the clip from BBC News.