内容摘要：In a statement, he said the firefighters showcased "the epitome of selfless service" and had "gone above and beyond under unprecedented circumstances".

In a statement, he said the firefighters showcased "the epitome of selfless service" and had "gone above and beyond under unprecedented circumstances".

That case has been delayed to allow his challenge to be heard first.The founder of the now-defunct English Defence League

for breaching a court order which had directed him not to repeat lies about a Syrian refugee.Since November, he has been held in a closed wing at HMP Woodhill.Alisdair Williamson KC, for Yaxley-Lennon, said the conditions amounted to a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights because his client had a complex form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yaxley-Lennon was said to be concerned that his mental health would deteriorate on release and he would return to substance abuse to cope.He told the court that his client's treatment did not amount to torture but was unlawful degrading treatment, and he was being dealt with differently partly because of his ideology.

Tom Cross KC, for the justice secretary, said the segregation was not a punishment but a carefully considered "bespoke regime" to keep the prisoner safe.

Prison authorities had received intelligence that Yaxley-Lennon had "a mark on his head", he said. Two prisoners had been planning to assault him to "gain kudos and notoriety".A country once seen as a citadel of global Catholicism had seen plummeting church attendance as the moral credibility of bishops and priests was undermined by the twin forces of secularisation and the clerical abuse crisis.

In welcoming the Pope, then Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar told him Ireland was a more diverse, less religious place, a country which understood that "marriages do not always work, that women should make their own decisions, and that families come in many different, wonderful forms, including those headed by a grandparent, lone parent or same-sex parents, or parents who are divorced".As Ireland's first gay head of government, Varadkar seemed to embody the social transformation he was describing.

The taoiseach also called for a "new relationship between church and state", urging the Pope to address the "history of sorrow and shame" laid bare by the abuse of vulnerable children.Hours later, Francis met eight survivors of clerical abuse for 90 minutes at the Vatican embassy in Dublin.