Paisley will meet with the primate of all Ireland, Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, to discuss improving relations and developing mutual respect between the two communities in Northern Ireland, the Irish Independent newspaper reported.
The announcement comes about two weeks after Archbishop Brady called for all the major political and community figures in the North to meet in the near future. Paisley’s party recently became the dominant unionist party in Northern Ireland.
A spokesman for Archbishop Brady said the move is «a welcome development,» and that the archbishop «looks forward to exploring all the issues further in due course.»
Likely topics to be discussed in the meeting include abortion and divorce, topics that both parties have traditionally taken a strong line against.
The meeting comes as a surprise to those who remember when Paisley was physically removed from the European Parliament in 1988, for comments he made during an address by Pope John Paul II.
