IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Nicola Anderson
PUBLISHED
24/11/2016

Former Irish President Mary McAleese has described her doctorate study in canon law as “sleeping in the same bed as a python”.

“You never finish it, you just get to the point where you have to abandon it,” Mrs McAleese said.

She spent the last three years living the quiet life in convents and seminaries in the Vatican with a quip that her social life was “very active” given the 11pm curfew.

Her studies have “filled her head up with crap”, the former President said. …

Instead, she wants to look at the hierarchical structure of the Church, which she says is “not serving its purpose”.

She slated the Vatican’s recent threat to withdraw from the UN Convention on Children’s Rights over its discomfort in being cross-examined on issues like child sexual abuse.