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A CONVICTED IRA bomber who rediscovered his Catholic faith in prison has said the impact of Pope John Paul II’s plea for peace in Northern Ireland should not be underestimated.
Londonderry-born Shane Paul O’Doherty was jailed for his part in the IRA letter bomb campaign during the Seventies.
Two years before the 1979 papal visit to Ireland, O’Doherty repented, denounced the IRA and wrote letters of apology to his victims. However, no credence was given to his actions until after the Pope made a plea for peace in Drogheda.
The impact of his words on the peace process is documented in a new film written and directed by David Naglieri.
It features key players in the peace process such as Seamus Mallon, Rev Harold Good, Lord David Alton and Martin Mansergh, the former Fianna Fail politician who drafted his party’s policy on Northern Ireland.
It also features O’Doherty, who said the Pope’s visit was a turning point for many prisoners both republican and loyalist.
He said: “I got involved in this documentary because I thought it was important that there were many prisoners who were moved, confused and confounded by that call from Pope John Paul II.
“There were many prisoners in English jails who left the IRA that month — who told me they resigned from the IRA that month.
“When I came back to Long Kesh after 10 years in prison in England I refused to go on the IRA wing and I was put on a OCD wing — that’s ordinary decent criminals.
“Within months, hundreds of loyalist and republican prisoners had joined me to get away from the grip of the two main paramilitary groups.
“A lot of them told me it was my example that gave them the strength to move away from the IRA and a lot of loyalist prisoners told me the words of Pope John Paul II was the first time they realised the Catholic Church and the IRA were separate.”
David Naglieri said the inspiration for the documentary was the discovery of letters from Fr Alec Reid to John Hume, which directly quoted the papal message which he believes was the spark that ignited talks between Hume and Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams that led to the peace progress.
John Paul II In Ireland: A Plea For Peace will have a limited release with Omniplex cinemas in NI and the Republic later this month.