but the head of the catholic church in england and wales, cardinal vincent nichols, apologised for thep of dublin diarmuid martin, has said that it is something he believes it is important that pope francis addresses when he comes to ireland in august. so it is recognised by the catholic church now. just about. i first met the archbishop in 2012, when i presented him with what little evidence we had at the time about the mother and baby homes. when you talk about what happened at castlepollard, that was only seven or eight months after that. it was presented with the facts and figures we had at the time. he was asked to call for a public inquiry, and he refused. he refused? he point—blank refused, and that happened a number of times. he simply would not do anything about it. but what has happened as a result of the information that has come to light is that the government is taking action. there is a commission that will be reporting in february and looking at all these. do you accept that as the right process? yes and no. certainly the inquiry was the right way forward, but it was a f

but the head of the catholic church in england and wales, cardinal vincent nichols, apologised for thet head of the church in ireland, archbishop of dublin dermot martin, has said that it is something he believes it is important that pope francis addresses when he comes to ireland in august. so it is recognised by the catholic church now. just about. i first met the archbishop in 2012 when i presented him with what little evidence we had at the time about the mother and baby owns. when you talk about what happened castlepollard, baby owns. when you talk about what happened castlepolla rd, that baby owns. when you talk about what happened castlepollard, that was only seven or eight months after that. it was presented with the fa cts that. it was presented with the facts and figures we had at the time. it was asked to call for a public enquiry and he refused. he refused? it public enquiry and he refused. he refused ? it plain public enquiry and he refused. he refused? it plain lank refused. and that happened a number of times. he simply would not do anything about it. but what has happen

we can speak now to cardinal vincent nichols, the archbishop of westminster, who is in dublin for theu to give us your time tonight. thank you. how important is this weekend, both for you, yourself and how important for the people of ireland? well, it is. it is very important. it is a moment, as we havejust heard in which all aspects of the life of the church are brought to the fore. am of those from the past are very dark and distressing and caused us a great deal of shame. some of them are very positive and that little report shows the great contribution that catholics can make to the well—being of society of the care of the poor. all of these aspects come to the fore and under the spotlight. whenever a pope visit a country, there is period of intense scrutiny before the pope arrives and when he arrives, he draws the attention and then gives expression to those aspects in the life of the church in aspects in the life of the church in a way that is unique and very special. it could be for many a really celebratory moment. there will by definition be people in the crowds who have neve

has been happening here all week as a leader of the catholic church in england and wales, cardinal vincent nicholsreland this weekend the leader of the world catholics will say something meaningful to address those historic parts. ——hurts. i think we have to look them straight in the eye and i think only slowly are we beginning to understand the real horror of child abuse. not just in the catholic church, but in society as a whole. and the pope this week, earlier this week, published a long letter in which he expressed his shame and horror and expressed his own personal regret and was quite determined that the church will tackle this evil that has found a lodging in our house. so i would expect he would repeat those things when he is here. but he will do it in the context of an unflinching conviction of the presence of god in our lives and the way in which, with the help of the holy spirit we construct family life, society life that is good for all. clearly there is a lot about which we should repent, clearly there is a lot about which we can celebrate and be determined for the future. and we do n