The Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, was honoured last night at a civic reception at Dublin Corporation's City Hall to mark his elevation to cardinal
The Dublin Lord Mayor, Mr Maurice Ahern, presented him with a hand-crafted gold chalice. Cardinal Connell expressed gratitude for "the incalculable debt I owe my native city" for "all it has given me throughout a long life spent almost entirely at home in Dublin".
Mr Ahern said the cardinal was "a great humanitarian" who had earned a reputation as a scholar, philosopher and church leader of the highest calibre.