Address by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to the Cambridge Group for Irish Studies, Magdalene College, Cambridge:

[...]The Vatican Council was without doubt one of the most significant cultural events for the Church in the twentieth century. I believe that the Council was one of the most significant events of the twentieth century for Irish culture taken as a whole, especially through its documents on the Church in the Modern World and on Religious Freedom and thus on the concept of pluralism. I always find it a little ironic that one of the most significant events which influenced the development of a more pluralistic and thus a more secular Ireland actually took place – of all places – in the Vatican.