Ahead of their meeting on Friday with Pope Francis, the bishops of England and Wales have asked the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission to carry out an independent and comprehensive review.

Church is endeavouring “to respond positively and constructively to genuine voices calling for a greater recognition of women and the feminine in the Church”.

The meeting came on the day that the Report into Historical Institutional Abuse in Northern Ireland was published.

Twenty-nine men representing twenty-six dioceses begin their five-yearly pilgrimage to Rome this weekend.

New bishop hopes to invite Pope Francis to visit Killaloe at Irish bishops' Ad Limina visit to Rome in January.