Editorial:Pope's death eclipsed even the shambolic end to the Irish rugby season

The dominant image of the week was of the throngs of people lining the streets of Rome around the Vatican waiting to pay their respects to Pope John Paul II. Perhaps never in history has one man's death aroused such widespread sorrow. For someone who caused such division, especially within his own church, during his pontificate, there is a splendid incongruity in the unity of the world in mourning his passing and in valuing his life. The papacy has been spectacularly enhanced by this effusion of respect and sadness. The successor of John Paul II will be its immediate beneficiary.

The significance of that death and the mourning has been further underlined by the postponement of the marriage of the heir to the British thrown and a symbol of the papacy's most virulent historical adversary. It wasn't just that Prince Charles deferred his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles to attend the funeral of the Pope – it was that he had no option. The most famous of his marriage guests said they would not be present at the wedding feast on Friday, 8 April, they would be at the graveside of the Pope. And among those was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Pope's death overshadowed the announcement of a British general election on 5 May. The polls in Britain suggested the election would be a closer contest than any since 1993, when John Major triumphed. Tony Blair has been a casualty of the war in Iraq. Whether the wounds his credibility has suffered over that war prove politically fatal will be determined in four weeks.

The Pope's death, and the resultant outpouring of sadness, also affected the Irish peace process. Gerry Adams had intended issuing his plea to the IRA to disband earlier than on Wednesday, 6 April. He deferred to that day because it offered a "window" between the immediate response to the Papal demise and the coverage the burial ceremonies are certain to demand.

Prince Rainier of Monaco died on 6 April. Once part of the world's most glamorous duo, with Princess Grace Kelly, his death too was overshadowed by events in Rome.

Even the shambolic closure to the Irish rugby season was eclipsed. The Leinster team of all the glittering talents disgraced themselves at Lansdowne Road against Leicester in the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup, while Munster's characteristic grit was insufficient in the contest with Biarritz in San Sebastian.

Dermot Ahern was appointed a special envoy by the UN Secretary general, Kofi Annan, to act as the latter's "eyes and ears" in western and eastern Europe on the issue of UN reform. A UN statement referred to Dermot Ahern and his three co-envoys (the others being the former foreign minister of Indonesia, Ali Alatas, the former President of Mozambique, Joaquin Chissano, and the former President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo) as having "profound knowledge of international relations" and referred to their "excellencies" as "prominent world leaders". It is not clear how Dermot Ahern will combine these responsibilities with his role as Foreign Minister with responsibility for foreign policy generally, for EU representation and for the Northern Ireland peace process.

A poll in the Sunday Independent on 3 April showed the combined Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat coalition would win 45 per cent of the vote in a general election, as compared with 35 per cent for a Fine Gael, Labour and Green alliance. This represented a significant turn around on the results of a similar poll of a year ago which showed Fianna Fáil and the PDs at just 38 per cent and Fine Gael-Labour-Greens at 40 per cent.

The Sunday Independent highlighted elements of the poll that reflected badly on Sinn Féin but this same poll showed Sinn Féin winning 8 per cent of the popular vote, an increase on its showing in the 2002 general election, when the party got 6.5 per cent.

The exploitation of Turkish workers by the construction company Gama continued to be highlighted during the week, especially by the Socialist Party TD, Joe Higgins. It emerged that the company had been disguising the rate of pay to its Turkish workers by the use of foreign bank accounts into which funds were placed, ostensibly for the benefit of the workers, but actually siphoned off to a (so far) untraceable account.

The DPP announced his decision to prosecute again Dermot Laide, originally convicted of the manslaughter of Brian Murphy outside Annabel nightclub in August 2000. Laide had had his conviction set aside by the Court of Criminal appeal, which ordered a retrial. It is understood Laide will challenge the decision to subject him to a retrial on the grounds that he could not possibly get a fair trial, given the scale of the publicity the case already has obtained.