We should excommunicate the IRA

THE SECTARIAN TERROR in Ulster is essentially religious in origin. It is no good pretending otherwise. In my view the solution must be religious. It lies with the Roman Catholic Church.
The Pope has been very bold in naming and condemning certain evils in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor. Are the activities of the IRA less evil than abortion or contraception?
Nor is it enough to condemn violence in general terms. Such condemnations have no cutting edge and ring of insincerity. The IRA must be condemned by name. Rome has excommunicated people for far lesser evils than that of the IRA. Jam thinking of Lefebvre.
The feeble argument that excommunicating the IRA will not put an end to IRA
violence makes a mockery of the whole concept of excommunication. It further renders ridiculous every act of excommunication by the Church committed this century.
Who in their wildest imagination thinks that today's Roman Catholics will desist from contraception just because of Veritatis Splendor?
But no Roman Catholic worth their salt would not congratulate the Pope for his stance. Christian beliefs must be asserted regardless of their predicted rate of success.
Rome's failure to condemn IRA violence contrasts poorly with her vociferous condemnation of evils such as apartheid, which the Pope condemned in The Church and Racism.
Dr Emile Shehculeh Cardiff.