Plans for demo when Francis visits
ANTI-POPE protesters are trying to stop people seeing him by ordering thousands of tickets for his visit.
They want to stage a peaceful demonstration over the Catholic Church’s handling of clerical child abuse.
Richard Duffy, 31, from Carlow, said he has registered to receive nearly 700 tickets for Pope Francis’s visit to Phoenix Park in August by booking bogus coachloads of 82 at a time.
But the Telecoms worker fears organisers may be able to intercept some of the book- ings. He claims to know another protester who has registered to take 1,000 tickets.
Mr Duffy told RTE Radio 1’s Liveline: “We might print a symbolic few to organise an event and burn them. People in this country are not happy with the Catholic Church.”
Mr Duffy plans to use his ticket to protest with a placard in the Phoenix Park. A Facebook event called Say Nope To The Pope has more than 1,000 people claiming they will attend the rally and more than 4,000 are “interested”.
But not everyone on the page agrees. Peter Denham wrote: “Actively stopping people attending this event is wrong.
“Go down there when it’s on and try to have some respectful discourse with people entering real difference.
“Removing someone’s choice because you disagree with them is wrong.”
Meanwhile, Culture Minister Josepha Madigan said she wants to speak to the Pope about allowing women to be ordained and priests to marry.
She was accused of “pushing an agenda” when she talked about the issues from the altar at her church in Mount Merrion, Dublin, on Sunday.
But the minister said: “The agenda I am pushing is one of equality. I believe there should be equality in the Church just as I believe there should be equality in all facets of society.” if you want to make a
tickets ordered by one man by booking bogus coachloads of visitors