The latest BCS standings were released Sunday night and have Notre Dame and Alabama ranked in the top two spots after a turbulent Saturday night of college football that saw the previous top teams, Kansas State and Oregon, both lose for the first time in huge upsets.
But the brief period of reflection beside the Pope's body as it lay in state in April 2004 was a rare moment of calm in the often turbulent career of the primate, who has previously been dubbed in the press the "Cardinal of Controversy".
The spring conference comes at a turbulent time for the Lib Dems and its president Tim Farron earlier said the party was in a "critical state" and its survival was not guaranteed.