‘Not a prayer’ for female Irish cardinal

A female cardinal may be the holy grail of radical reformers within the Catholic Church, but speculation that Ireland could produce the world’s first is unlikely to answer their prayers.

That was the view of observers yesterday who watched social media light up with conjecture that Pope Francis might include a woman when he names his next batch of cardinals, probably early next year, and that the woman in question could be Irish.

Two Irish names went into the hat, the front-runner being theologian Linda Hogan, vice-provost of Trinity College Dublin where she is Professor of Ecumenics.