David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is all to do with the question of whether the embassy should be open. I am just giving a few reasons. It is important that somebody says that humbly and objects to the vulgar abuse of Muslim people, and I put that in the context of a woman whose name I regret I cannot remember but she is a junior minster in the British Administration. She is a Muslim Member of Parliament and she has spoken out against the discrimination against the Christian peoples of the Middle East and their practical extinction in certain countries. This Pope is on the same wavelength.

I am not a Roman Catholic. I am an Anglican because I always believed in being on the right team but when the Pope talks about a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets rather than a church concerned with being at the centre, and about dispersing power from the Vatican, I believe he is one of the most remarkable people of our generation. He deserves support because his ideas are humane and politically in the right direction. They are against power and in favour of humility. It was the arrogance of the church and its representative here that, if we are honest, helped lead to the closure of the Vatican Embassy. I find myself in the surprising position of saying that I would welcome a review that took into account the reopening of the embassy.