By David Willey In Mexico City

Pictures and reports on Pope John Paul II's arrival last night in the world's most populous city are headline news in practically all of fervently Catholic Mexico's newspapers this morning.

The Mexican president and his wife are committed Catholics and divorcees

El Universao runs a front page picture of Mexican President Vicente Fox kissing the Pope's hand.

The Reforma pictures the Pope's vehicle as it moves through the throngs who have gathered along all 19 km (12 miles) of the route from the airport to his residence.

And the English language newspaper, News, explains why the Pope has been here no less than five times in the last 24 years.

For all the Church's strengths, says the newspaper, there is a troublesome divide between the teachings of the Church and the beliefs of Mexican Catholics.

Divisions

Opinion polls show that Mexicans favour birth control and are open to abortion.

The growing gap between theory and practice propels the steady growth of the Protestant churches, says News, particularly in rural indigenous communities where people increasingly press to allow members of the clergy to marry.

And these divisions are embodied in committed Catholics like the president and his wife.

Both previously divorced, they were married just a year ago in a civil ceremony without having had their original marriages annulled by the Church.

This dichotomy is also expressed on the front page of Novedades, where a picture of US pop princess Britney Spears is carried above that of the Pope.

It was announced that tickets for her recent concert - called off after only five songs during a recent thunderstorm - will be reimbursed to disgruntled fans.

The English language News, meanwhile, informs us that the pop star was caught by cameras extending her middle finger in what the paper describes as a 'universally recognised insult' on her arrival here last week.

She was apparently angry with the local paparazzi whom she accused of trying to crash into her car.