Sir, – Good to see that Eamon Gilmore has parsed Evangelii Gaudium with a gimlet eye and concluded that Pope Francis's challenge to global capitalism means that even a modest embassy to the Holy See will now make a miraculously economic return.
I trust that on his next visit to Freetown to upgrade the Irish Aid office to embassy status, Mr Gilmore will remember to pack at least five dozen copies of Francis’s Exhortation for the enlightenment of all Sierra Leone’s government ministers. Time, after all, for Ireland to pick on a country her own size and with similar inequities. – Yours, etc,
EDDIE FINNEGAN,
Wightman Road,
London, England.
Sir, – Perhaps your correspondent, A Jones, (January 22nd) has a point when arguing for the establishment of embassies on the grounds of fairness in other holy cities. However, diplomatic relations between Ireland and the Vatican have surely a pre-eminent claim, as it is almost 400 years (1618) since Luke Wadding OFM, of Waterford, arrived in Rome via Lisbon and Madrid and represented the Irish cause so well in Rome that he was considered by many to be Ireland’s first ambassador to the Holy See. No doubt, Eamon Gilmore was acutely aware of the proximity of this centenary when he took the enlightened decision to re-open the Vatican embassy. – Yours, etc,
GABRIEL MARTIN,
Leinster Park,
Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Sir, – Water is a good beverage when taken in the right spirit. Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan is a must for the vacant post in the reopened Vatican embassy because he has almost performed the miracle of “walking” on water and those of us who drink it. – Yours, etc,
T McELLIGOTT,
Fortfield,
Raheen,
Limerick.
Sir, – It appears that the Government has moved quickly to create a new role for the outspoken Fr Tony Flannery by deciding to reopen the Irish Embassy to the Vatican. You report that the new embassy will be staffed by one diplomat and will be based in a “modest” office. Fr Flannery, who is already well versed in the ways of the Vatican, is clearly suitably qualified for the job. – Yours, etc,
CIARÁN FEIGHERY,
Luttrellstown Road,
Clonsilla,
Dublin 15.