The meeting in Rome last week between Senior Vatican officials, the four Apostolic Visitators and the four Irish Archbishops was very co-operative and fruitful.    The type of Visitation envisioned is something new and unique.    There are very few past models to draw from.  For this reason all sides at the meeting were anxious to exchange views to see how the Apostolic Visitation should evolve and to ensure that it can best achieve its aims – to support the Irish Church in its work of addressing the past,    ensuring that victims are heard and ensuring that proper procedures and structures are in place. The Visitation is not about repeating past investigations nor is there any question of it wishing to revisit existing reports.  
 
    The four Irish Archbishops welcome the Visitation unqualifiedly and recognise in it an example of how the Pope wishes to support the Irish Church at a difficult moment. The Meeting was very open and there was no attempt on the part of the Irish Archbishops, as was suggested by some media, to try to restrict the mandate of the visitors. The four visitators bring to their task a vast range of pastoral experience.  They will come to Ireland to meet with victims and Church officials in order to listen and to support a forward-looking pastoral programme for the renewal of the Church in Ireland.   
     Details of when the Visitation will begin and what format it will take will be announced in due course by the Vatican.