Pope hails 'beautiful news' IRA is renouncing violence

THE recent announcement by the Provisional IRA that it is preparing to disarm was yesterday welcomed by the Pope and church leaders in Ireland.

In his Sunday address to pilgrims, Pope Benedict XVI hailed Thursday's decision by the IRA to end what the organisation refers to as "the armed struggle" as "beautiful news".

He urged everyone associated with the process to work for lasting peace in Ireland.

Speaking at his summer palace outside Rome, the Pope expressed "satisfaction and hope" over the development, which saw the IRA meet international demands to declare its 1997 ceasefire permanent and to renounce violence in favour of politics in its pursuit of a united Ireland.

He said: "I encourage everyone to continue to travel down the indicated path and to undertake further steps which will allow the strengthening of mutual trust, promote reconciliation and consolidate negotiations aimed at just and lasting peace."

Pope Benedict said he was echoing a plea made by the late pope, John Paul II, during a visit to Ireland in 1979, for terrorist groups to distance themselves from the paths of violence.

He said: "It is beautiful news, which contrasts with the sorrowful business to which we are daily witness in so many parts of the world."

Archbishop Sean Brady, the leader of Ireland's Catholics, described the IRA's statement as the most significant move by a paramilitary group since the start of the Troubles.

Addressing a congregation in the staunchly Republican estate of Lenadoon in West Belfast, Archbishop Brady called on republicans to endorse Northern Ireland's police service and for respectful dialogue between rival sides in the ongoing dispute over parades and processions.

He said: "The statement was potentially the most powerful, significant and welcome move towards genuine freedom in Ireland to have emerged from any paramilitary organisation since the beginning of the Troubles."

Archbishop Brady said the IRA statement would spark a debate about Irish unity, adding that he hoped such discourse would now occur in a more constructive and less emotive atmosphere.

In a BBC interview yesterday, Paul Murphy, the former secretary of state for Northern Ireland, claimed the 11 September attacks on the United States, rather than the recent London bombings, had created the context whereby terrorism in Northern Ireland had to be abandoned.