The Tablet parts company with its Rome correspondent

The Catholic weekly magazine The Tablet has announced the departure of its former Rome correspondent Robert Mickens following revelations of an online exchange involving the journalist which made insulting remarks about Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The magazine had earlier suspended Mickens for his participation in the conversation on the Facebook social media site in which his question as to whether an aged cardinal would make “the Rat’s funeral” was met by another writer’s comment that the funeral immediately after the recent Rome canonisations “would be a bonus”.

“After serious consideration, The Tablet and Robert Mickens have come to a mutual agreement that he will no longer be the journal’s Rome correspondent,” an official statement ran.

Though it offered no details as to its own internal inquiry into the matter, The Tablet was prompted to investigate the exchange after details emerged in a British daily newspaper.