"Absolute dilettante at work" Expert calls sloppy inscription on Pope's tomb "shameful"

Typographical sloppiness - and that on the Pope's grave: after the death of Pope Francis, his epitaph caused a stir. Experts are surprised.

The Holy See has been empty since April 21. Pope Francis died at the age of 88. Five days later, hundreds of thousands of believers and visitors paid their last respects to the deceased pontiff.

Francis, who had been in poor health for the last few weeks of his life, had already given some thought to his death. In his will, the Argentinian had it noted that he wanted a "simple" grave "without any special decorations and with the single inscription: Franciscus".

Reddit user accuses: "Typographic war crime"

Modest wishes, the fulfillment of which should not be so much to ask - one would think. After all, the supposedly simple epitaph is now causing quite a stir in the Vatican. The Italian magazine "L'Espresso" complains that there is an "incredible graphic error" on the tombstone of the late Pope.

And indeed, if you take a closer look at the inscription, you will notice that the letters on the light-coloured marble are unevenly spaced. "This is a typographical war crime," one Reddit user wrote pithily. 1500 people agree with the indignant comment.

"An absolute dilettante was at work here", was the scathing verdict of Zurich sculptor Marcello Fenaroli when asked by the Tagesanzeiger newspaper. Even an apprentice in his first year would do a better job, according to Fenaroli.

Too much space between the R, A and N, as well as between the C and U, but too little space between the N and C: Fenaroli's list of shortcomings is long. He himself needs 20 minutes to produce a "precise inscription by hand". "In the case of the pope's tombstone, the sculptor would probably have been better off using a computer," he concluded, judging the "shameful one".