The Vatican has withdrawn from sale 6,000 copies of a new papal medal on which the name of Jesus was misspelt.

In an inscription around the edge of the coin, Jesus was mistakenly spelt with an L.

Keen-eyed experts snapped up a handful of the coins, which were struck in gold, silver and bronze by the Italian mint, before the mistake was noticed.

Vatican coins and medals bearing the face of Pope Francis are bought by collectors all over the world.

A few collectors may make a fortune because of the scarcity value of the flawed medals, the BBC's David Willey reports from Rome.

New medals are struck when every new pope is elected and they provide a useful source of income for the Vatican, which is undergoing a major spending review under the leadership of Pope Francis, our correspondent says.

As news of the mistake travelled, social media users cracked jokes about this new religious figure, "Lesus" Christ. "I blame the Lesuits," went one tweet while another had "Let us prey Lesus".

For the love of "Lesus," the Vatican needs a copy editor -- preferably an infallible one.

But when the Vatican drew up the medal, it flubbed the Latin phrase, said spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi. (It's worth noting that Latin doesn't have a "J," so maybe we should cut the Vatican a bit of slack.)

Lombardi said the Vatican is to blame for the mishap, saying the error was made "in the preparation, not the execution."

The Italian Minting Institute made about 6,000 of the "Lesus" medals and retrieved all but three or four, according to media reports, which means a few folks are holding onto some pretty valuable mistakes.