President booked to represent us in Rome

Higgins to join party leaders at funeral

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70 where it's still a crime.

He added: "For the Pope to speak out against that in places like Africa, is actually a real significance and bear in mind, at the moment, in politics around the world there are people who claim that God is on their side while they try to reduce the rights of LGBT people, while they try to treat migrants badly, while they try to deny climate action.

"Having a pope, the head of the largest Christian church, saying that refugees should be sheltered, saying that our planet was sick and that we needed to act to save it, saying that LGBT people should not be criminalised, that did matter. I do hope that successor is of a similar mind."