Sir, - Perhaps Father David O'Hanlon (letters, April 8th) would have preferred Mrs Robin son to have grovelled at the feet of the Pope, wearing sackcloth and ashes. Instead, Mrs Robinson chose to dress and behave as a modern woman, and as the Irish Head of State. The Catholic Church has for centuries subjugated women, denied those who wished to become priests, and treated women as servants. Father O'Hanlon's stomach evidently turns at the thought of a woman who does not kow tow to the Catholic Church.
It is ludicrous to suggest that "everything about the President's visit was calculated . . . for maximum slur and provocation against the Church and her visible head." Mrs Robinson has no reason to slur or provoke the Church, and Father O'Hanlon's ridiculous attitudes are a sad reminder of just how out of touch the Catholic Church is in the modern age. - Yours, etc.,
Northbrook Avenue,
Dublin 6.