A chara, – I am delighted to see that Senator David Norris's proposal was agreed unanimously ("Seanad agrees unanimously to invite Pope Francis to address the Upper House", Home News, February 20th). However, I was disappointed to see that it was left to Fianna Fáil's Senator Jim Walshe to suggest the visit should be pastoral in nature. After all, Jesus is on record as saying that we should "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
When An Taoiseach downgraded our diplomatic status a couple of years ago I wrote to suggest it was time for the Roman Catholic church to decide if it wanted to be treated a religion or as a state. Senator Walshe has reopened the discussion.
We now have the opportunity to indicate that we, as a nation, would be happy to welcome a papal visit as a pastoral event, while not treating the Pope as a head of state with all the pomp and ceremony, not to mention expense, that it would entail. – Is mise,
SEÁN O KIERSEY,
Kill Abbey,
Deansgrange, Co Dublin.