The fate of children takes a particular centre-stage in the Gospels. Jesus articulates ethics that warn in the starkest terms about the importance of protecting children. So it is perhaps not surprising that the treatment of children might become a battle ground in the struggle between the opposing cultures of a growing secularism and the residual Catholic culture in Europe.

In this intensifying conflict the claims of the state to take precedence over parents in the control and protection of children have produced shock, surprise and opposition.