The new law in Ireland will mean that any priest hearing from a child in the confessional that the child has been (say) molested by another priest will be under legal obligation to report it. That Ireland, of all nations, should challenge the Catholic catechism so directly is quite a big development.

If you think, Joe, that any decent priest hearing such a confession would put paragraph 1467 ahead of the criminal law, you have not understood the sea change in attitudes in Ireland. You would get a hint of that change from the terms in which voices within the Irish hierarchy openly demanding that Magee and his ilk be jailed.

Chris B, it is a serious mistake to assume that this is a problem confined to Ireland. Ireland has been trenchant in tackling it, but abuse by Catholics is a worldwide problem. Australia, France, Austria, Poland, the UK and the US are among those countries where the default response has hitherto been to cover it up. Neither is child abuse an indulgence confined to the middle-aged.