One of Ireland’s highest ranking Catholics today denounced the Church for having grown self-centred and arrogant in the wake of the clerical child abuse scandals.

Vatican officials were offended by requests for information from the Murphy inquiry into paedophile priests, according to US embassy cables released by Wikileaks.

Northern Ireland should be an inspiration to those around the world seeking peace, Pope Benedict XVI said today.

SETTING up one of the world’s largest cheese plants in the uplands of New Mexico, where the Comanches once hunted the buffalo, was a daunting challenge.