More than 200 people took part in a protest in support of dissident priest Fr Tony Flannery outside the papal nuncio's residence in Dublin last Sunday.

The protesters left a letter for the nuncio calling for dialogue within the Church to address the case of Fr Flannery, who has been threatened with excommunication if he does not sign a document retracting his views on women priests, artificial contraception and homosexuality.

The letter, organised by the lay reform group We Are Church Ireland, was critical of the way the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) exercises its authority in relation to those who question church teaching.

A petition against the CDF's treatment of Fr Flannery is being delivered to Rome and has already gathered more than 1,450 signatures.

You can read Fr Flannery's correspondence with the Vatican, which he has made public, here.

Above: Fr Flannery