The Pope has not been spotted on British shores for 28 years- so his UK arrival has generated a wave of pent-up media hysteria. The latest incumbent has a greater global Crowd following than The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson put together. Quite an achievement for a man not often known for his charismatic tendencies…

Prior to Pope John Paul II’s six day trip in 1982, the UK had not been graced by a papal visit for more than 400 years- so when the pope does decide to pop by, it’s worth standing up and paying attention. And one Crowdsourced website aims to record every moment of his September visit: http://www.popewatch.org/.

So how does it work? Well quite simply, popewatch UK loves the Pope. The website wants to report a full and comprehensive video and photographic record of the Pope’s movements up and down the country during the next four days.

And here is how you can get involved. The site relies on your sights. If you spot the Pope- Popewatch.org want to know about it!

The incentive? Apart from the glory of spotting the Pope going about his Papal duties and having your work adorned on a top Crowdsourced tracking website- a dreamy new iPad is up for grabs for the best entry. To be in the running for Apple’s latest piece of gadgetry wizardry, video and picture entries need to be sent via email to popewatch@yahoo.co.uk.

The Guardian has also launched a Crowdsourced campaign on their website (which can be found here) using the CrowdMap technology from Ushahidi. It’s a similar concept to the one adopted by the BBC in their attempt to Crowdsource last week’s London tube strikes. Unlike Popewatch UK, the Guardian aren’t too fussed about what you give them- reports of traffic problems, photographs of the crowds or information on protests- it’s all helpful. But they are not offering an iPad either.

And there have been some extraordinary sightings rolling into Popewatch.org so far. Yesterday, after wild rumours of Pope spottings across Sheffield and Leeds, video footage of the pope mobile driving into a petrol station off the M1 suddenly emerged on YouTube around mid-afternoon.

Ridiculous right? The Pope was safely tucked away inside the Vatican packing his suitcase full of robes, hats and a well-worn passport ahead of his state visit. Or was he?

Edinburgh City Council said the public would not be able to view the Pope’s journey from the city’s airport to the Holyrood House this morning. Funny that. Was he already in the country?!

How else can you explain this morning’s extraordinary events? Forget the long-term moral and ethical dilemmas and implications of the Pope’s visit for a moment; the man creates his own controversy.

The pope was first spotted in Edinburgh today after an unscheduled  breakfast stop at McDonalds. From there, the pope mobile journey continued into Edinburgh city centre, where the vehicle had an untimely puncture.

Worse still, the Pope was then arrested by Scottish police- a slight problem when you have an 11am appointment with the Queen at Holyrood House… I’m glad to report he made it- or at least he sent a stand-in just in time. Prince Philip and the BBC didn’t seem to notice anyway.

The Pope’s PR is bad enough at present- and this leak is potentially very embarrassing. There are two Pope’s on the loose. We’re so confused, we don’t even know which ones which. It’s got all the hallmarks of a Richard Curtis re-make of The Prince and the Pauper.

However, we do know that one of the ‘pope’s’ has been kindly loaned a second pope mobile courtesy of betting company Paddy Power. The other ‘pope’ is travelling through Edinburgh, and later Glasgow, with an entourage of aides, cardinals, bodyguards and police trailing behind him. Therefore, it is imperative that sightings of Paddy’s Pope are Crowdsourced and recorded down. If we find his location, maybe we can get to the bottom of this mystery?!