The Catholic Archbishop of Armagh has said he would like to see an end to growing hostility towards Christians in Ireland.

Speaking to the St Patrick’s Podcast, Archbishop Eamon Martin was asked what he would like to banish from Ireland in the spirit of the saint.

“If I think of when St Patrick became angry, he was angry with the soldiers of Coroticus for attacking his newly baptised Christians, for taking them off into slavery, for killing some of them, for assaulting them. I think I would like to ban persecution of people for what they believe in,” he said.

“I mean there’s a lot of people in Ireland today who want to live the Christian faith, who want to be Catholic, who want to publicly profess their Catholic faith and feel they cannot do so because of ridicule, because, in some cases, of downright oppression of what they believe in, and perhaps verging on forms of persecution. I would like to ban persecution from Ireland.”