Pontiff: ‘I hope Irish visit increases unity among Christians’
POPE FRANCIS says he hopes his visit to Ireland will help to increase reconciliation and unity between Christians on the island.
In a special video message ahead of his arrival on Saturday, the pontiff also said he was “excited” at returning to Ireland, where he spent time learning English in 1980.
Although the specific reason for his visit to Ireland is the World Meeting of Families, he said he wanted to “include all the members of the Irish family” in his trip.
He hoped it would “further the growth of unity and reconciliation among all Christ’s followers, as a sign of that lasting peace which is God’s dream for the human family”.
The Pope (inset) also paid tribute to families, who he said faced many challenges today in their efforts to bring up children with sound values.
He added: “I know that many people are working hard to prepare for my visit, and I thank all of them from my heart. I ask everyone to pray that this great festival will be a moment of joy and serenity, a caress of Jesus’s tender love for all families, and indeed, for all God’s children.”
Echoing Pope John Paul II when he visited Ireland in 1979, Pope Francis added: “Young people are the future.”
Pilgrims
Meanwhile, the World Meeting of Families officially got underway last night as thousands of pilgrims flocked to the
RDS for the opening ceremony.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin welcomed the crowds who made the journey from the Irish Church’s 26 dioceses as well as international visitors from 116 countries.
He told those gathered that the family is not “a remote ideological notion” and should be a place where compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience and forgiveness are learned, practiced and spread.
Describing the opening ceremony as “important”, he said it was the culmination of months of preparation.
As he was speaking, flanked by Cardinal Kevin Farrell of the Dicastery of Laity, Family and Life in the Vatican, each of the Irish Church’s 26 Catholic dioceses were holding their own liturgies to mark the occasion. The archbishop said that “whatever of the past, here in Dublin the World Meeting is something much more profound” which was to reflect the words, “You are God’s chosen race; he loves you”.
“Over my lifetime, family life has changed,” he said and added that families in Ireland today have many opportunities and many new challenges and that these would be looked at over the next three days in the RDS.
“We pray for those who have never experienced such love or from whom such love was stolen through abuse or neglect,” he added.