Berlin - Angela Merkel's having none of it, of course, and has told her Holy Father to get stuffed.
But with 90% of Opus Dei's investment portfolio wiped out by a rogue trader's disastrous £1.5billion punt Pope Joe Ratzinger's arrival back in the Fatherland comes at a time of massive crisis for the Vatican.
The Swiss bank that suffered the huge trading loss enjoys internationally recognised immunity from prosecution - a bit like the Holy See's self-declared status.
It's left Vatican coffers teetering on bankruptcy in a Round Two scandal that's eclipsed previous horrors such as the Banco Ambrosiano fiasco of the 1980s that saw 'God's Banker' Robert Calvi 'suicided' under London's Blackfriars Bridge.
"My daughter, I want to grant you absolution for hoarding 900 billion Euros in those secret accounts," Benny-The-Dip whispered in Angela's rear - er...ear! - today.
The German sovereign fund has accrued the massive surplus following Merkel's six-year tenure as German Chancellor.
The official response won't be know until Monday.
