Archbishop Eamon Martin has called for politicians to return to Stormont to prevent the introduction of legislation that will legalise abortion in Northern Ireland.
Legislation brought in by MPs at Westminster has paved the way for terminations to be decriminalised, but the law will not take effect if the devolved government at Stormont is restored by 21 October.
Speaking during a prayer service at the papal cross outside Drogheda, the Catholic Primate of All Ireland said he was pleading with political representatives to return to Stormont to prevent what he called "this barbaric abortion legislation" from taking effect.
Archbishop Martin said the political impasse in Northern Ireland had gone on too long and he urged all sides to make compromises and return to their posts at what he described as a "critical moment".
He claimed that the democratic process had been "cynically manipulated" in Westminster to remove "all explicit protections for unborn children up to 28 weeks".
The archbishop said that with Brexit looming, politics seemed to be "descending into a dangerous factionalism", which was "eroding the integrity of parliamentary democracy".
He said there had been a "return to death and bombing" in Northern Ireland in the last six months and an increase in sectarianism.
Archbishop Martin also referred to the "brutal beating" of Quinn Industrial Holdings executive Kevin Lunney, and ongoing feuds between criminal gangs, saying that it was important to "always speak out against attacks on innocent human life".
He urged people to work together to "prevent a culture of barbarism and death from taking root and poisoning our land".
Speaking directly to politicians, he said he was calling on them to "have the courage to face up to your responsibility" and to be leaders "in the cause of peace, reconciliation and justice".
