At least two Irishmen are among Cardinal Ratzinger's most doughty defenders. One is the Archbishop of Dublin and soon to be Cardinal, Desmond Connell (right). In 1991 he was among a group of CDF bishops, led by Cardinal Ratzinger, which "dealt" with a delegation from the US Bishops' Conference.

The Americans had been summoned to Rome to "discuss" a pastoral letter they were preparing on women. The CDF was not satisfied the letter was clear on banning women priests and did not like its inclusive language. An American bishop recalled: "We were set up. I thought we were going to go in there and educate the hierarchies of other countries. . . Instead I was battered around." The pastoral letter never appeared.

Among Cardinal Ratzinger's pupils in his latter teaching days was Father Vincent Twomey, now of St Patrick's College Maynooth. "In his fierce orthodoxy, he (Father Twomey) exemplifies Ratzinger's second Studentenkreis, which formed around him at Regensburg in the 1970s," writes John Allen in the book.