The election of Albino Luciani as the Catholic church's 263rd Pope was the product more of intense pre-conclave lobbying than of divine inspiration. Vincent Browne has been to Rome to examine the problems facing the new Pontiff, to analyse the uneasy coalition of forces that now constitute the Catholic church and to probe the electioneering and arm twisting that resulted in the surprise swift election.
ONE of the most curious elements in the election of the new Pope was the amazingly swift publication of L'Osservatore Romano within an hour of the first official announcement. The officiel Vatican newspaper heralded the election of Albino Luciani with a large front page photoograph, another photograph on page 2 (both taken long preeviously), and a detailed bioography of John Paul I.
Vincent Browne interviews a member of the Provisional IRA leadership who has been authorised by the army council to speak on behalf of the movement.
THERE HAVE BEEN yct further revelations in the fingerprint affair which raises even further doubts about the credibility of several key offiicials in both the Garda and the Department of Justice and, in particular, raises serious questions about the deetermination of the Minister for Justice, Gerry. Collins, to expose the cover-up.
THE FINGERPRINT AFFAIR has now assumed far larger proportions than hitherto suspected and has raised quesstions of the utmost seriousness not alone about the conduct of very senior Garda officers, past and present, but of the Department of Justice itself.
Programmes
AT TEN O'CLOCK in the evening of Tuesday, June 6, RTE 2 will start its public life with an episode of an anodyne American series called The Streets of San Francisco. The hour of liberation for the single-channel areas is at hand. The denizens of Limerick and Galway should not be knitting garlands of roses for their liberators just yet though, because they'll only be getting an hour to an hour and a half's viewing a night from RTE 2 until November, when full evening broadcasting starts.
The prisoners, by this time three hundred of them, including Kieron Nugent the first such protester who, if he had not taken a stand, would have been released last September, refused to slop out. When their pots were full, they were allowed to overflow. Or the prisoners would use other receptacles, such as their shoes. The contents were hurled out of windows or poured through the cell spy-holes.
"Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat" has already bought Noel Pearson a small castle in Killiney and may yet rescue him from the depredations of "Elvis" and "Plain Porter." More appropriately the show should now be known as "Joseph and The Amazing Bank of Ireland Chequebook."
The Fine Gael Ard Fheis was a deserved success for Garret FitzGerald, who has devoted more energy to resuscitating the party in the last 10 months than anybody has done in the last 40 years.
"IS THERE A REPRESENTATIVE from The Irish Times here?" asked Father Piaras O'Duill at the recent enquiry in Dublin's Liberty Hall into allegations of abuse and torture of prisoners in Ireland and England. No reply. He asked if representatives of the other morning or evening papers were there. No reply. The circle of public indifference to torture allegations and the news media's reflection to that indifference was making itself evident.