She was presenting her book Quo Vadis at the Irish Franciscan Church of St Isidore in Rome last night.
In her presentation last night, Mrs McAleese argued that the hopes and expectations aroused by the “dawn” and the “light” of the second Vatican Council had been betrayed.
Fifty years on, very little has changed in terms of universal church governance.
Bemoaning the lack of a serious internal church debate, Mrs McAleese said issues such as gay rights, family planning, women’s ordination and the denial of the Eucharist to those who were divorced made “no appearance in the Creed”.