Origins: Who first went to Rome to see the Pope?

Subject: Origins: Who first went to Rome to see the Pope?
From: GUEST,Tim Packer
Date: 18 May 22 - 12:14 PM

"The singer out of Slipknot went to Rome to see the Pope" - Vatican Broadside, Half Man Half Biscuit
"The famous Hatfield College went to Rome to see the Pope" - Durham college song
"The famous Bishop Hatfield went to Rome to see the Pope" - live roleplay song
"The famous/wanky Tottenham Hotspur went to Rome to see the Pope" - football song

In all cases, the song is sung to John Brown's Body, and the visiting party receives an unflattering response from the pontiff.

But who was the original subject? Half Man Half Biscuit's version was first recorded in 2001, though could have been sung earlier; I remember the Durham and LARP versions from the late 1990s.

My guess would be that the football song was the original, but I wondered if anyone had any insight or earlier origins?

(Bishop Thomas Hatfield did, in fact, have a famously rocky relationship with the pontiff, but I doubt it was written as a serious piece of historical commentary!)