What happened?
Mary McAleese, the former president of the Irish Republic, has criticised the Church for ‘imposing’ the Sacrament of Baptism.
In a lecture at Trinity College Dublin, McAleese said that Baptism involves “the imposition of lifelong membership which can never be rescinded”, and that this contradicts human rights law, under which a child should have the right to consent to such membership.
Also last week, controversy broke out over McAleese’s criticisms of John Paul II at an event on October 30.
