Power sharing in Northern Ireland would be good example, pope says

Published: 2007-03-23

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If Catholic and Protestant political parties in Northern Ireland form a power-sharing government it would be "a very powerful Christian witness" for other areas where conflicts include a religious component, Pope Benedict XVI told Ireland's president. Irish President Mary McAleese, meeting reporters after her March 23 audience with the pope, said she told him about efforts to ensure that Northern Irish political parties form a Catholic-Protestant governing administration by March 26. The papal quote came from McAleese; the Vatican said only that her meeting with the pope included a discussion about "the development of the peace process in Northern Ireland." The power-sharing arrangement was proposed in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end the violence between unionists, who are mainly Protestant and favor continued British rule, and nationalists, who are mainly Catholic and want Northern Ireland reunited with the Irish Republic.

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