When Diarmuid Martin, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin, ordained three priests last July, it was not without a certain relief. They were the first men this year to enter the priesthood in Dublin. In 2005, there were no new priests for the first time since the archdiocese was created in 1152.

A shortage of priests is an acute problem for European Catholicism in an age when the Vatican perceives Europe as the world’s most secularised continent and the one most exposed to competition with Islam.