THE Church showed the first signs of bowing to public pressure when senior figures said the religious orders should pay more to compensate abuse victims.

IRELAND’S second largest Catholic diocese got a new bishop yesterday when Monsignor Noel Treanor was ordained as Bishop of Down and Connor at a special ceremony in St Peter’s Cathedral in Belfast.

A VATICAN diplomat who has served in some of the most violent situations in the world is the Holy See’s new representative in Ireland.

The Bishop of Down and Connor, Patrick Walsh, has been visiting the Co Antrim village of Ahoghill to show his support for parishioners targeted in a recent spate of sectarian attacks.

The Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Patrick Walsh, has accused the Ulster Defence Association of murdering Catholic teenager Gerard Lawlor out or raw sectarian hatred.