Publish – or be damned! – Two disturbing cases of reticence to publish – so time to stand up for a key principle.

Two weeks ago, the BBC carried the news that the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales had decided that it could not reveal the data emerging from the consultation it has conducted on the subject of sexual ethics. To add spice to the Today programme’s story, it was revealed that the Church in Germany had in fact published its own findings as part of the worldwide consultation the new Pope has initiated. Father Marcus Stock, General secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told the BBC that it would be wrong to release the output of the consultation in order to avoid “pre-determining” the outcome.