Ireland's Catholic bishops have expressed concern "with the general uneasiness and loss of impetus" in the Northern peace process.
They appealed to "all our people to encourage in every way a willingness to understand feelings of mistrust, fear, insecurity and resentment, even when we believe them to be unfounded".
In a statement issued at the end of their three-day spring conference in Maynooth yesterday the bishops said that huge progress had been made. "That fact must not be forgotten," they continued.
"We know we speak for the vast majority of our people when we say that only through pursuing dialogue will the remaining difficulties be overcome. While appreciating the difficulties of their task, we fully support those at present engaged in a search for a satisfactory solution."
The bishops welcomed in particular the treaties between Ireland and Britain signed earlier this week, which they saw as an expression of "the new spirit of co-operation and mutual trust which are required to support the full implementation of the agreement".
But they noted an obvious loss of confidence that a political dialogue and negotiation alone could produce a stable peace.
"Unionists lack confidence that republicans are fully committed to the peaceful, democratic path and that there has been a definitive move from violence. They tend to see decommissioning as proof of such a move," they said.
While republicans lacked confidence in the willingness and sincerity of unionists to accept and implement the agreement, "they need to be convinced that they will be included in the executive," the bishops said.
They saw the present impasse over decommissioning "as an expression of all these fears".
The Primate, Dr Sean Brady, said that while he believed "decommissioning, as well as other matters", would be helpful towards breaking the impasse, what should be emphasised was that the agreement be implemented as a whole rather than in its particular parts.
He did not, however, anticipate the church leaders taking any initiative in the coming weeks to help to move the process forward. That, he felt, was really a matter for the politicians.
Nor would Dr Brady be drawn on the Humanae Vitae speech made at Maynooth College by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Connell, on March 2nd. He had no comment to make on the matter.
