‘Modern Ireland’ is a different place
WITHIN minutes of touching down on Irish soil, Pope Francis will be whisked to the Phoenix Park for a meet and greet with our agnostic president. Michael D Higgins will welcome the pontiff into the house that for 14 years was home to the thorn in his side that is Mary McAleese.
There’ll be no awkwardness though because Mr Higgins is a great admirer of our visitor, declaring in March the “global community can draw inspiration from Pope Francis”.
After their meeting, Pope Francis will move to Dublin Castle, which will be crammed with what one Government figure described as “half of official Ireland”.
Top of the queue will be our gay Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who championed same-sex marriage and is in the process of legislating for abortion.
Higgins and Varadkar will set the tone for Pope Francis’s visit, introducing him to a ‘modern Ireland’ that welcomes his presence but doesn’t bow to his superiority.
If the past is a foreign country, then the Ireland visited by Pope John Paul II in 1979 was a different planet. We do things very differently here now. But the Pope knows that. Enda Kenny told him as much when he visited the Vatican in November 2016.
The tour around the opulent buildings was a highlight for Mr Kenny in his final months as Taoiseach.
Pope Francis came across as a man of few words but Mr Kenny could hardly hide his delight at the prospect that he might visit Ireland.
In just 27 minutes, they managed to squeeze in Brexit, climate change, youth unemployment, Northern Ireland, Church-State relations, Argentina’s World Cup-winning performance in 1978, and the goings-on at Sunday Mass in Mayo.
Mr Kenny also told us afterwards they discussed some “difficulties” the people of Ireland had with the Catholic Church. The clear implication was that he referenced what is still seen
by many as the best speech of his tenure as Taoiseach.
Back in 2011, Mr Kenny, a devoted Catholic, stopped the Dáil in its tracks when he tore into the Church for downplaying the “rape and torture of children”, and accused the Vatican of trying “to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign democratic republic”.
Since then, more painful truths have been unearthed about what really went on at Mother and Baby Homes.
Just last week survivors of the Magdalene Laundries were treated as heroines on the streets of Dublin.
The ‘baptism barrier’ will be a thing of the past from next September. At the last census, there were 73,208 divorced Catholics in Ireland.
This is an Ireland where the prejudices of the Catholic Church are now rejected in their entirety – but that doesn’t mean Pope Francis isn’t a much-wanted guest.
While the role of the Church is diluted, there is plenty of evidence that we still engage with the rituals.
Last year, more than half of all marriages (11,219) were overseen by a Catholic priest.
Nine of 10 older people consider themselves Catholic.
And just reflect on some of the horrible tragedies we’ve seen over the past few weeks.
There has been a shocking kidnapping, murders and fatal accidents. Time and again, it was the local priest who called people together, offered reassuring words in the media and tried to start the healing process.
Without question, there is an audience for Pope Francis but he must use this opportunity to craft a new relationship between Ireland and the Church.
He also brings a bit of ‘rock star’ quality. The Pope is a popular figure in whose footsteps people will follow.
Rural Affairs Minister Michael Ring told the Irish Independent how the trip will present Knock with “the boost it needs” to attract more pilgrims in the way that Lourdes and Medjugorje do.
And the Mayo minister will be seeking some divine intervention, too. “He’s coming in August and we hope to be near enough the All-Ireland. We’ll be talking to him about the curse.”