How to get a standing ovation in Ireland: Vatican recalls ambassador. At last the Irish are rising like lions after slumber. If only it could have happened in the days of Archbishop McQuaid and his ilk, how many lives would have been spared church-inflicted misery?

Just to be clear, the John Magee excoriated in the Cloyne report is the same John Magee who was at the very heart of the Vatican for decades as personal secretary to three popes. No wonder he never got his red hat. And no wonder Ratzinger has bottled out of next year's visit to Ireland.

One silver lining: Ireland is making it a criminal offence, punishable by five years imprisonment, to withhold evidence of child abuse gleaned in the confessional. A long overdue nail in the coffin perhaps for an archaic sacrament conceived to consolidate the hierarchy's grip on the laity.