IRELAND will reopen its embassy to the Vatican “within the next year or two if economic conditions allow”, European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton has predicted.

MUCH heat and very little light has been expended on the Government’s decision to close one of our two embassies in Rome (neither of which are in the Vatican).

ENDA KENNY faced down criticism of the Government’s move to close the embassy to the Holy See, arguing that it would save taxpayers money and was unrelated to his recent criticism of the Vatican.

CELEBRATIONS welcoming Ireland’s newest Catholic saint continue in Rome today with a special mass for pilgrims who attended the canonisation.