We could have done with some papal inspiration on non-violence

WHEN there is nothing left to say, some fool will always say it. That was a message that used to hang in the newsroom of RTÉ.

In the past week it often seemed appropriate as we were swamped with what seemed like our first tsunami a tidal wave of emotional twaddle about instant canonisation and national days of mourning.

I am old enough to remember the death of Pope Pius XII, when some also talked about canonising him on the spot, but his papacy has not worn that well in its passage into history. People are advocating that John Paul II should be called John Paul the Great.