Public opinion is divided on the issue, with 42 per cent in favour of scrapping the prayer, 42 per cent who want to retain it, and 16 per cent who “don't know”.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin warns representatives of the legal establishment: “A political or judicial system which betrays or undervalues the equality and the dignity of all, betrays its calling and betrays humanity.”

"For 175 years The Tablet has been a distinctive model of building up communication within the Church."

"In the coming months existing services will experience enormous strain and many of those entering homelessness will be children.”

"Irreversibility of this punishment does not allow for eventual corrections in the case of wrongful convictions."