Connell defends his remarks on State's debt to church

Cardinal Desmond Connell said last night he was not aware the media were present when he spoke about Ireland's debt to the Catholic Church at a lunch in his honour in Rome on Wednesday. He also forcefully reiterated his position on intercommunion.

At the Irish College in Rome last night, where Wednesday's lunch took place, he said the event "wasn't for the press, you know". He had been "merely responding to the Taoiseach, and it [his speech] was unscripted . . ." It was also his first public address as a cardinal.

However, he defended his remark that "Ireland would not be Ireland without the church", asking "Can you imagine a history of Ireland that does not account for the immense cultural contribution that the church has made to the Irish soul?"

He disagreed that the phrase sounded nationalistic. "I am not a nationalist in that sense. I have never been. I grew up in a family that had no political position on matters of that kind and I have never been involved in that kind of position," he said.

"Ireland has been part of the universal church since the 5th century, and I was speaking about the influence of the church in relating Ireland to the world of Europe and the entire world." That was the context in which he made the remarks about the church keeping Ireland open. As to "the influence" he referred to which would have kept Ireland closed but for the Catholic Church, he said: "I'll leave that to your own historical knowledge to identify."

On intercommunion, he would "continue to make it quite clear the Catholic Church has its clear position on the question. And I will not deviate from that in the least," he said.

Asked whether he considered himself an ecumenist, he replied: "Certainly. And the members of the Protestant churches know very well what my contribution has been to the work in Dundalk at the Inter Church Meeting."

He was, however, "very concerned that our ecumenism would be based on truth. And that I have said over and over again. I have been concerned in Dundalk that the ecumenical work that is going on is not really facing the basic issue. Because you cannot have a genuine ecumenism unless it is based upon truth." As to his suggestion in Wednesday's speech that the church in Ireland today was "to be forgotten as though it never existed", he said it was "getting due recognition from the faithful. No doubt about that".

Cardinal Connell received his ring from Pope John Paul, along with the 43 other new cardinals, at a Mass in St Peter's Square yesterday. The gold ring, with a crucifixion scene, was too tight for his finger and had to be adjusted at a jeweller's.

Until the 1970s cardinals received sapphire rings. Cardinal Connell said he had two in his house in Drumcondra. They were given to his predecessors Cardinals Cullen and McCabe.