Pope Benedict may be interested in visiting Northern Ireland, according to the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.
Dr Martin told an audience in New York last night that he interpreted the Pontiff's choice of Archbishop Seán Brady as cardinal as an indication that he wants to visit Northern Ireland.
He said that, combined with a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Dublin, such a Papal journey would mark a symbolic opening of a new era north and south.
Delivering the inaugural Irish Institute of New York Lecture, Archbishop Martin praised Archbishop Brady for quietly and daily sustaining the peace process.
Speaking in Dublin this afternoon, Dr Ian Paisley said the possibility of a visit by the Pope to Northern Ireland was a religious matter and not a political one.
Dr Paisley was speaking to reporters after he delivered the Edward Carson lecture in Trinity College.
Last year Irish bishops invited Pope Benedict to visit Ireland.
