Journalists traveling to New York with Prime Minister Gordon Brown reported on the planned visit. Brown's Downing Street office refused to officially confirm it, but a spokesman said the Pope would receive a warm welcome if he were to visit.

"The Prime Minister is obviously delighted at the prospect of a visit from Pope Benedict XVI to Britain," the prime minister's spokesman said in a statement. "It would be a moving and momentous occasion for the whole country and he would undoubtedly receive the warmest of welcomes."

The spokesman, who declined to be named in line with government policy, said any official confirmation of the visit would come from the Vatican.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, also said he was encouraged and pleased by reports of the visit, though he would not confirm the plan either. The British government had invited the pope on several occasions, he said.

"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," Nichols said in a statement. "The prospect of a visit by Pope Benedict fills us with joy."

Three British newspapers and the Sky News and BBC broadcasters all cited unidentified sources in reporting the planned visit.

In Rome, a Catholic church source said a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Britain is among the possible trips he may make in 2010. The source asked not to be identified because plans are still being worked out and no dates have been set. Other possible destinations include Malta and Fatima, Portugal.

Announcements of such visits generally are made first by the local church.

The last visit to Britain by the head of the Roman Catholic Church was by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual head of the global Anglican church, welcomed reports of a possible visit from the pope, saying he had "expressed my hope to Pope Benedict that he would accept the invitation to visit Britain."

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

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