On CNN’s Connect the World programme on Mar 11, the day before the conclave opened, host Becky Anderson asked me a question about geographic blocs in the college of cardinals.

The scandal-hit Catholic Church needs to undergo renewal and reform, the former leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales said today as he called for the “pope’s own house to be put in order” in the wake of recent troubles.

Would the resignation of Cardinal Brady be of any lasting benefit to the victims of abuse involved in this current church inquiry scandal or, indeed, any of those victims of clerical abuse everywhere?

Pope Benedict XVI was scandalised and dismayed by the abuse perpetrated by some members of the clergy and of religious congregations, his new envoy to Ireland said today.

HERE is the full text of the pastoral letter from Pope Benedict XVI about clerical abuse in Ireland:

THE RECENT summit of the entire cohort of Irish bishops, the Pope and senior members of the Roman Curia seems to have been little more than a self-serving display of pious political theatre based on a disjointed script played before an increasingly sceptical and despairing Irish public.

Pope Benedict XVI today has expressed his "profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy".