Priests have welcomed the apostolic visitation’s acknowledgement that further work needs to be completed by the Catholic Church here to ensure that clerics on leave following abuse allegations are all being treated the same across the dioceses.

A final decision is expected today on whether the parents of missing Madeleine McCann will meet the Pope this week.

Pope Benedict XVI today said he deplored the “terrorist attacks” in London, calling them “barbaric acts against humanity”, and said he was praying for the families of the victims.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair can boost the peace process in Northern Ireland by repealing a law which forbids the heir to the throne marrying a Catholic, it was claimed tonight.

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, is to preach to the Queen and the British royal family at their estate at Sandringham today.