A cardinal due to travel to the UK with the Pope has pulled out just days after claiming Britain was like a "third world country".
German-born Cardinal Walter Kasper, 77, was to make the trip as part of the Pope's entourage. Vatican officials have reportedly attributed the change of plans to ill health.
But the news followed an interview the Cardinal gave to German magazine Focus in which he said Britain was facing an "aggressive new atheism" and that "Christians were at a disadvantage" in the UK.
Asked about the protests expected to greet the Pope's visit, he remarked on Britain's multi-cultural inhabitants, telling the magazine that someone landing at Heathrow may think they were in a "third world country" as there was such a variety of faces there.
Among the groups planning to protest the Papal visit are the survivors of abuse by Catholic priests. Speaking as the final preparations were made for the four-day trip, a group of victims renewed their calls for the Pope to hand over all information on the scandal.
They demanded that Pope Benedict XVI "make amends" for their suffering by going further than offering an apology.
The Pope will visit London on Friday and Saturday, when he will meet Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Prime Minister, and host a prayer vigil in Hyde Park.
