THE signs have been evident for some time — a pope no longer in control, unable to act decisively, resulting in embarrassing publicity and a leader showing increasing signs of being overwhelmed by the problems of a Church in deep crisis.

IN calling for a Vatican Council III, my old sparring partner TP O’Mahony (‘Vatican must change’, January 2) shows that more than 40 years later he still hankers for the 1960s when the speculations of German theologians at Vatican II press briefings prompted Irish reporters to be commentators playing the speculation game.

Pope Benedict XVI called today for special prayers for the victims of Hurricane Rita, as well as for the rescue workers trying to help them, during his final Sunday blessing from his summer residence south of Rome.