Ahern to raise murder of Irish Vatican diplomat at Papal meeting

THE murder of a Nenagh-born Vatican diplomat in Africa will be raised by Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern when he meets the Pope in Rome tomorrow.

Mr Ahern will call for an international inquiry into the death of 58-year-old Archbishop Michael Courtney, Papal Nuncio to Burundi, who died in December 2003 when his car was ambushed by gunmen.

The minister has been granted a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Goivanni Lajolo, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, at midday on Wednesday.