It seemed more than a bit odd to more than a few people that the White House tonight is holding a dinner honoring visiting Pope Benedict XVI, but the pope isn't scheduled to be at the dinner.

The official word is a bit confusing.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said on Saturday he didn't know why the pope was not on the guest list.

Yesterday the official word was that the pope would be attending a prayer service with U.S. bishops at around the time of tonight's state dinner.

Some blogs made it out to be a papal snub of the White House or an example of incompetence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to schedule.

The pope was also expected to be a no-show tonight at his 81st birthday party that some people thought was being thrown for him by opera star Placido Domingo at the Italian Embassy.

Another snub?

"I was a bit surprised at first when I heard about the White House dinner," said Michael Novak, a Catholic and a scholar in religion, philosophy and politics at the American Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Novak told The Washington Times the whole dinner thing was scheduled with the Vatican some time ago.

He said a Vatican and a White House official each told him the pope never said he was going to attend the White House dinner.

"It was coordinated with the Holy See," said Mr. Novak, who said he talked with the Vatican embassy and the White House.

Mr. Novak was invited and planned to attend the White House dinner for the pope tonight.

"There's going to be Catholic leaders in town from all over the country for the pope's visit, and by and large these people have been very strong supporters of President Bush's," Mr. Novak said.

"It was too good a political opportunity to miss," he said. "That's the only way I can dope this out."

He said he couldn't remember the last time any pope attended a state dinner.

UPDATE: The latest White House briefing didn't add much in the way of clarity of explanation:

From the briefing:

Q: There hasn't seemed to be, from the podium there, a lot of talk about this being a state visit. But it is a state visit.

Question from a reporter: And do you know of any other state visit in which the guest of honor did not attend the dinner, the state dinner?

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino: No, I do not know that. But you understand the — what we have said is that we knew we wanted to give this dinner. The Pope had a schedule that he was already planning to have, and the President said that he would like to have the Catholic leaders that came to Washington, D.C., to come to the arrival ceremony today, amongst others, here at the dinner, and they're very happy to have this event tonight.

— Ralph Z. Hallow, national political reporter, The Washington Times