Cardinal Sean Brady is expected to raise the possibility of a papal visit to Ireland when he attends an audience with Pope Benedict this morning along with 22 other new cardinals and their families.
The audience caps a weekend which saw him installed as cardinal. Tonight he will celebrate the first Mass in his new role at the St John Lateran basilica, at which the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Archbishop Dermot Clifford, will give the homily.
The Cardinal returns to Ireland at 10.20am on Thursday when he will be met at Dublin airport by the Taoiseach.
He will receive a Garda escort to Drogheda and, at 12.30pm, will visit the shrine of St Oliver Plunkett in St Peter's Church. From there he will go to Dundalk.
Cardinal Brady will be the first Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh to receive a police escort in Northern Ireland when he returns home. He will be accompanied by PSNI outriders from the border to Armagh, arriving there at 7pm where he will be greeted by a parade.
Last night he was honoured at the first reception for an Irish cardinal at the British Embassy to the Holy See. President Mary McAleese, Martin McGuinness, the North's Deputy First Minister, Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and many of Ireland's Catholic bishops attended.
