Ireland has reversed its decision to cut ties with the Holy See by announcing the reopening of its embassy. There is no return, though, to a relationship of servility, says an Irish foreign affairs specialist, but evidence of a more adult approach to the Catholic Church John A. Costello, on becoming the Taoiseach after Ireland’s 1948 election, sent a grovelling message to the Pope. “On the occasion of our assumption of office and of our first Cabinet meeting, my colleagues and myself desire to repose at the feet of Your Holiness the assurance of our filial loyalty … ”Ireland has come a long way since then and its relationship with the Catholic Church has changed dramatically. The servility and obeisance have gone – but the outbreak of hostility which charac