Reports that the Vatican intends to force the resignation of the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland over the paedophile priests scandal have been dismissed by his spokesman today.

Sunday Mass goers across the country were being read Pope Benedict’s words of apology in his pastoral letter on clerical child abuse today.

THE Catholic Church in Ireland is at a defining moment in its history and recent child sex abuse scandals have damaged public trust in its leaders, according to Cardinal Seán Brady.

The former head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Cahal Daly, will lie in state tomorrow in the cathedral closely linked to his ministry.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland said today that he was shocked and ashamed by details in the Dublin Archdiocese clerical abuse report published today.

CATHOLIC Church authorities abroad, concerned that abusers uncovered by the Child Abuse Commission may also have worked in their countries, will not be able to obtain the true identities of the individuals protected by pseudonyms in the commission’s report.

The Catholic Church in the North has apologised for selling land to a wildlife trust where hundreds of dead babies were buried.

CARDINAL Sean Brady has apologised for causing widespread offence in publicly backing beleaguered Bishop John Magee.

An investigation is reportedly underway into how a Protestant clergyman was allowed to say Easter Sunday mass in a Catholic church.

Archbishop Sean Brady has called on Catholics in Ireland to pray for Pope John Paul II, who is close to death in the Vatican after suffering heart failure last night.

CARDINAL Desmond Connell yesterday rejected reports in a Sunday newspaper that he is due to resign in the next few weeks.