The four leaders of the Christian community of Northern Ireland welcomed the new agreement reached by Ian Paisley, leader of the hard-line Protestant Party, and Gerry Adams of the “Sinn Fein”, the party that represents the IRA. “An important and extremely welcome step in the pursuit of s stable future for Northern Ireland”, this is how the epoch-making meeting has been defined by the leaders of the Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist Churches. “Along with many others, our Churches have encouraged for a long time the politicians of our region to work towards a local government for Northern Ireland, and we are sure this will materialise today”, they said in a note signed by the archbishop Sean Brady, president of the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference, by David Clarke, chairman of the Presbyterian Church, by archbishop Alan Harper, primate of the Anglican “Church of Ireland”, and by Ivan McElhinney, president of the Methodist Church. “We encourage everyone to keep praying for our community and for our future together”, reads the leaders’ release. “It is important that all of us keep building a country in which we are all enhanced, where diversity is respected and where peace and harmony can thrive”. For the first time in the history of the conflict, Adams and Paisley have been sitting next to each other and promised to set up again the Stormon Parliament by May 8th. The meeting is the result of years of work by the religious and political leaders that eighteen years ago led to the first ceasefire of the IRA and one a half years ago to the handover of the terrorists’ arms. The majority of the population of Northern Ireland are Catholic, followed by Presbyterians, Anglicans and Methodists.
