POPE AND PRESIDENT

Sir, - There was a time in Ireland when I would have thought that "tsk tsk" would have been the way to respond to Father David…

Sir, - There was a time in Ireland when I would have thought that "tsk tsk" would have been the way to respond to Father David O'Hanlon's outburst on President Mary Robinson's visit to the Pope. At that time, charges such as petulance and plain bitchiness might have been levelled at him - that is in the unlikely event that he'd have written such a letter back then.

It's a real sign of the times, though, when a man of the cloth can display such human emotions as anger (wasn't that once considered a deadly sin?) in our national press. I'm sure President Robinson would approve - sure wasn't she the one who invented all the openness and inclusiveness in the first place? - Yours, etc.,

Ballsbridge,

Dublin 4.