Sir, - If we are to follow Brian T. Hickey's logic (December 27th), the Vatican should have received the likes of Pol Pot and Hitler in the pursuit of "a more inclusive, open and tolerant Church, accepting everyone, not turning anyone away".
However, if the Vatican decides to receive people such as Mr Haider, well known for his strong racist views, then John Paul II should use the occasion to re-assert Christian values of tolerance and welcome for the stranger and marginalised, especially when they are fleeing from persecution.
John Paul II is well capable of such a gesture. Who will forget that historic finger-wagging and public rebuke of Father Ernesto Cardenal when, as a member of the Sandinista Nicaraguan Government, he was welcoming the Pope into his country? What earned Father Cardenal this humbling rebuke? It was simply because he was serving the people of Nicaragua as culture minister in a "left-wing" government.
Why was there no public rebuke of Mr Haider when he was received by the Vatican? As a Catholic I was appalled by the lack of some gesture by the Pope to condemn the insidious evil of racism which is growing and gaining respectability in Europe and Ireland. The situation demanded it. - Yours, etc.,
Brendan Butler, Pennock Hill, Swords, Co Dublin.