Letter: Pope and bombers

Sir: I am a Catholic. I am ashamed to note that though many world leaders have condemned the car bomb in Northern Ireland on Saturday, as usual the one leader who has failed to do so is the Pope.

In his Sunday address at Castel Gandolfo he described the bombing as "tragic and nonsensical", prayed for the victims and expressed hopes for the peace process. His refusal to heavily condemn this and other IRA (or republican-inspired) atrocities has no doubt given comfort to those carrying them out. Those murderers will no doubt see his silence as tacit approval.

Forget Bill Clinton; the Pope is the man who could make the biggest difference to this fragile "peace process". His refusal to get involved and to speak out clearly against the perpetrators has cost many lives, and it is this that history will remember him by.

LEO STEVENSON

London SE4