At the launch of their document on the Eucharist on Wednesday, the Catholic bishops, in the persons of the Primate, Dr Sean Brady, and the auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor, Anthony Farquhar, would not be drawn on where lay the President, Mrs McAleese and David Trimble vis-a-vis participation in church services not of their own faith. It will be remembered that Mrs McAleese received Communion at Christ Church, Dublin, last December and the Ulster Unionist leader attended the funeral Mass for the three young Omagh bomb victims in Buncrana, Co Donegal in August, but didn't receive Communion.
Particular cases, they decreed, would not be commented upon. At a simultaneous press conference in London Cardinal Hume, answering questions, said it was acceptable for Tony Blair to take Communion in a Catholic church while on holidays in Tuscany but not in London - ever. This was so, he said, because in Italy there were no Anglican churches for him to go to. Blair is well-known for attending Mass with his Catholic wife, Cherie, and children and used to take Communion up to 1996 until he stopped on receipt of a letter from the Cardinal pointing out that it was better to respect one another's traditions.