In honor of the first year of Pope Francis' papacy, commemorative coin-size medals were minted with the word Jesus misspelt as Lesus.
According to BBC News, Vatican had to recall about 6,000 medals.
The Independent reports that before the error was pointed out, several medals had been sold, with experts predicting that they would now rocket in value.
The gold, silver and bronze medallions were made by the Italian State Mint. The misprint was in the Pope’s official motto “Vidit ergo Jesus publicanum et quia miserando atque eligendo vidit, ait illi sequere me," which in English reads as, “Jesus therefore sees the tax collector, and since he sees by having mercy and by choosing, he says to him, follow me.”
The reaction of the Pope to the misprint has been unknown so far. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was appointed in March 2013. The cardinal chose his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who was the founder of the Franciscan order known for his asceticism.
The misprints in minting of both commemorative and regular coins happen quite regularly. Thus, the central bank of Ireland misquoted James Joyce coin which was issued this April. However, it kept selling the specially-minted coin.
