ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has insisted victims of paedophile priests must not be “fast-tracked” through a healing process and criticised Catholics who say their church should move on from grief about the child abuse scandals.

Pope John Paul II’s own suffering kept him away from his flock on Good Friday, but he appeared via video at the Way of the Cross commemoration of Christ’s suffering at Rome’s torchlit Colosseum.

Pope John Paul II’s own suffering kept him away from his flock on Good Friday, but he appeared via video at Rome’s torchlit Colosseum at the Way of the Cross commemoration of Christ’s suffering.

The pope, recuperating from throat surgery, plans to give his traditional blessings on Easter Sunday but has tentatively delegated other Holy Week activities to top cardinals, the Vatican said today.

Hong Kong’s hospitals may be unable to cope with new cases of a deadly mystery disease coming in daily, the legislature’s medical representative said today - but he predicted that the illness could be contained in two to three weeks.