It seems absurd that any official Vatican memorabilia would misspell the name Jesus. Or that the Italian institute that mints coins, passports and postage stamps would make such an error. And yet the fact remains: A new series of special commemorative coins honoring Pope Francis got it wrong.

They call him Lesus.

This coin released to commemorate Pope Francis's first year in office has an unfortunate spelling mistake.

‘‘Everybody makes mistakes,’’ the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said on Friday. ‘‘Even people who make coins.’’

The Vatican confirmed Friday that it had withdrawn 6,000 coins commemorating Francis’ first year in the papacy. The coins had been distributed to retailers when it was discovered that ‘‘Jesus’’ had been rendered as ‘‘Lesus’’ on a Latin phrase engraved around the edge of the coin. The sentence, by the Venerable Bede, a seventh-century theologian, contains Francis’ self-chosen motto, ‘‘miserando atque eligendo,’’ which loosely translates as ‘‘lowly but chosen.’’