Kimbal botched the plan by applying to the wrong official and falling foul of the Holy See’s soft but rigid protocol.

The businessman, who at 52 is a year younger than the world’s richest man and his brother Elon, sported his trademark cowboy’s hat as he made the offer with the wife of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Veronica Berti.

His visit to the Vatican came after talks at the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and at the Campidoglio with Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

Musk was interested in putting on a drone and lights display for the Teenagers Jubilee in April.

But from what has been learned from well-informed sources, they should have approached the Pope’s delegate for organising the Jubilee, namely Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation.

Instead, Musk and Berti turned to Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Pope’s vicar for Vatican City, who has a track record of backing Church tech projects.

The misdirected approach backfired and for now the drone-light show is on the Vatican backburner, at least until the proper protocol is respected, said the sources.

ANSA