In a Word . . . excluded

There we were locked out with lines upon lines of limoncello, arranged in glasses on whitest of white tablecloths, while the great and would-be-good feasted inside the refectory of the Irish College in Rome.

It was 2001 and we Irish media were there to cover the consistory in St Peter's Square earlier that February day when then archbishop of Dublin Desmond Connell was one of 44 prelates to receive the red hat from Pope John Paul II.

We were not invited to the lunch hosted at the Irish College to mark the cardinal's elevation, which was attended by assorted church and State dignitaries, including then taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

So we lolled outside with their dessert, feeling like Lazarus in the parable and promising ourselves that, on that future date while those inside endured the hottest of flames, we would refuse to dip even even a finger in limoncello to cool their torment.

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Then, as speeches were being made inside, we soon realised we could hear all that was said. So, like children with noses up against a sweet-shop window, our ears were soon glued to the thin partition and, lo, the following day’s front pages were unfolded unto us.

In unscripted comments not intended for our ears, the newly minted cardinal spoke very forcefully about the contribution of the Catholic Church in the development of modern Ireland and to the country's profile in the international community.

There were those in Ireland who believed “the church is to be forgotten as though it never existed”, he said. The church was no longer recognised by the Ireland we had today, he said.

But, he asserted, Ireland was not Ireland without the church.

"Ireland is European because of Rome. Because of the church, Ireland is a worldwide community," he said. Ireland's then recent success in winning a seat on the UN Security Council had been helped by the work of Irish missionaries around the world, he suggested.

Addressing the taoiseach directly, he said Ireland had not closed in on itself because of the church. It had kept Ireland open. That would not have been the case if “another influence” had been allowed to dominate, he suggested, without elaborating. He didn’t have to.

And, you know something, he was right!

Excluded from Latin excludere “to keep out, shut out.”

inaword@irishtimes.com