A Protestant clergyman forced to flee Northern Ireland because of his ecumenical views has expressed disappointment at the Vatican's ban on the sharing of communion.
In an encyclical letter entitled 'On the Eucharist and its Relationship to the Church', Pope John Paul II this week forbade Catholics from receiving communion in non-Catholic churches.
He also said that only priests could celebrate Mass and that divorced Catholics who remarry could not take Communion.
The Pope's statement is the latest chapter in a long-running debate on whether Catholics and Protestants should be able to take communion in each other's churches.
In 1997, Archbishop of Dublin Cardinal Desmond Connell criticised President Mary McAleese after she receiving communion at a Church of Ireland ceremony at Christ Church Cathedral.
Leading Church of Ireland members have expressed concern that the Pope's statement will further widen the gap between the two churches.
The Rev David Armstrong, a Belfast-born Church of Ireland clergyman now based in Co Cork, said that the ban was "inevitable" given the Pope's well known view and conservative appointments made in the Vatican in recent years.
"For someone with an ecumenical outlook and attitude it's disappointing. The Irish president should be able to participate in communion among her fellow Irish citizens who just happen to be Protestants," he said.
Mr Armstrong said that Pope John Paul had recently been in a mosque and kissed the Koran, adding: "Protestants are now third class citizens. He views us as being less than Islam. I do not understand how the Pope can kiss the Koran, which is a sacred act in the Islamic faith, but has forbidden Catholics taking Communion in a Protestant service – Communion is the most sacred thing in our faith."
The clergyman initially worked as Presbyterian minister but retrained in the Church of England after being forced to flee Co Derry in 1985.
He came under fire from fellow Presbyterians in his Limavady parish as well as the Orange Order and other Protestant extremists because of his cross-community work.
Earlier this year, the Irish News reported that Mr Armstrong's parishioners in Carrigaline were to use the local Catholic Church for services after their own church was badly damaged in an accidental blaze.
