Religious and political leaders welcomed the prospect of the first official papal visit to the UK, which is expected to be confirmed today.

Downing Street said it was for The Vatican to announce Pope Benedict XVI's plans but indicated that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who made the formal invitation in February, was "delighted".

Roman Catholics in England and Wales were said by their leader to be "filled with joy" at the news and the Archbishop of Canterbury said Anglicans would welcome the pontiff "with great warmth and joy".

But secular campaigners warned they would organise protests against his presence.

Reports of the visit, which would be the first papal trip to the UK since John Paul II's pastoral visit in 1982, are believed to have first come from officials travelling with the PM in New York.

Although there remained no official confirmation last night, a Downing Street spokesman said: "The PM is obviously delighted at the prospect of a visit from Pope Benedict XVI to Britain.

"It would be a moving and momentous occasion for the whole country and he would undoubtedly receive the warmest of welcomes."

Mr Brown, who has a close relationship with the Pope having met him several times as part of his work on international development issues, extended him a formal invitation to visit during a private audience in February.

According to the reports, the trip is expected to take place in the autumn of 2010 and will have many of the trappings of a state visit.

The Pope is expected to meet the Queen - who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England - and may stay at Buckingham Palace.

He will visit many parts of the UK, though it is unclear whether he will travel to Northern Ireland, where his presence could spark sectarian tensions.

And he is thought likely to mark the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the prominent 19th century convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism.

The Archbishop of Westminster and leader of Catholics in England and Wales, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, said: "We are encouraged and pleased at the news which has emerged about the possible official visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK next year.

"We are glad the Holy Father is giving such consideration to the invitations he has received from Her Majesty's Government, which accord closely to the wishes and requests also expressed by the Bishops of England and Wales.

"The prospect of a visit by Pope Benedict fills us with joy."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, speaking during a visit to the Anglican Church in Japan, said he had previously told the Pope he would like him to come to the UK.

"I am therefore delighted to hear that there is every possibility that the Pope may indeed visit Britain in the course of the next year.

"I'm sure I speak on behalf of Anglicans throughout Britain, in assuring him that he would be received with great warmth and joy."

In July, Benedict authorised the promulgation of decrees on a miracle attributed to Newman - a further step on the road to him becoming the first English saint born since the 17th century.

The "miracle" was the cure of Roman Catholic deacon Jack Sullivan from a crippling spinal disease.

Mr Sullivan, who visits Britain in November, has spoken of how he had been able to walk and had become completely free of pain after praying to Cardinal Newman in 2001.

The beatification ceremony will bring Cardinal Newman, who died in 1890, a step closer to becoming England's first non-martyred saint since the Reformation.

If confirmed, Pope Benedict's visit would only be the second by a head of the Catholic Church since Henry VIII declared himself head of the church in England more than 500 years ago.

Many of Britain's four million Catholics can be expected to flock to any public appearances by the Pope, who was elected to succeed John Paul II in 2005.

John Paul's visit attracted large crowds and included trips to Canterbury, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Cardiff as well as a mass at Wembley Stadium.

That visit was thrown into doubt because of the Falklands War.

During his visit, John Paul II took tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, the first meeting on English soil between a monarch and a Pontiff.

The Queen is also expected to meet Pope Benedict during this visit and may provide apartments at Buckingham Palace for the Pontiff although the Palace gave no immediate comment on the reports.

When he was first elected to office in 2005 the Monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh sent the leader of the Catholic Church a private message with their "best wishes".

A spokesman for the National Secular Society said it would organise "a coalition of groups to make clear to the Pope that whatever celebrations the Government lays on for him, he is not welcomed here by everyone".

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