Despite the high-blown rhetoric of some on the Catholic right and the populist fringes of political life, presumably nobody actually wishes to reunite the elderly and the vulnerable with their Heavenly Father earlier than it might suit them or the Good Lord.

Ireland’s four Catholic archbishops let it be known at the weekend that they are unhappy with what they see as Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly’s 'clandestinely' outlawing public Mass and other church services.

In a Sunday Times story by Justine McCarthy, the archbishops said they are seeking legal advice, and are calling for an urgent meeting with Donnelly after he introduced a statutory instrument banning large indoor gatherings. They said they felt the statutory instrument, which they interpret as temporarily banning religious ceremonies with a congregation, other than funerals and weddings, was 'draconian' and a breach of trust.

On RTÉ’s This Week, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly – who in January complained at the lack of mentions he was getting in his department’s Twitter feed, while Ireland was experiencing the most dramatic spike in Covid-19 cases seen anywhere on the planet – denied that the statutory instrument makes attending religious services an offence.

Donnelly, who has had the sort of rehabilitative effect on Simon Harris’ reputation that Donald Trump had on George W Bush, said: “It doesn’t do that. What it does do is it bans large indoor gatherings, and we all know why, because the public health advice says that is a high-risk area.”

One can imagine Their Graces replying tom-ay-toe, tom-ah-to, and they are unlikely to have been mollified by Donnelly’s saying he would be delighted to meet with them.

In the Sunday Times a few week ago, David Quinn of the right-wing Catholic pressure group the Iona Institute,

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