Billy Keane

I’M thinking now of the lady who is on her way to see the Pope. The daughter might be in a bad marriage and the son could be too fond of the drink, or more likely drugs, in the times that are in it.

The husband is sitting beside her on the train to Dublin. The couple did their best with the kids but maybe it could be they were too strict, or maybe they were too soft.

So they say their prayers and they go to the Pope today in search of some comfort. There are a million problems and a million combinations thereof.

There’s a cancer patient sitting opposite. The news isn’t good. The cancer patient is trying to find some certainty of a heaven and the prayers said that her family will be all right after she passes on.

I wouldn’t criticise anyone who goes to see the Pope today in Dublin. Pope Francis is a decent enough man in so many ways. He has given his life in the service of the poor and the dispossessed.

But Pope Francis and the rest of the higher-ups in the Church pick and choose who are allowed in, like bouncers on a nightclub door.

Whether we agree or disagree, I can understand why the Church is against abortion. The recent referendum was passed by a big majority but many of those who voted in favour of a liberal abortion regime were deeply conflicted. On the one hand you had the terrible prospect of a pregnant woman being ripped asunder either emotionally or physically or both, and then there is the death of a baby. There are no winners.

I was very much in favour of gay marriage and still am. Again though, I can see why the Church is opposed to gay marriage. The concept is too new for them to take in. I do believe the Church is biased when it comes to our LGBT brothers and sisters. I know of many LGBT people who feel alienated, despite reassurances they are welcome to take part in all the sacraments, bar marriage.

You could even argue Pope Francis did not know of the sex abuse scandals. Maybe he ought to have known, or even have delved deeper. There has been very little by way of investigation into child abuse in Africa, for example. The Pope doesn’t seem to have sent investigators to find out if there was a problem in Africa. Many of the priests convicted of crimes against children worked in Africa before going back to the US in particular.

None of the scandals was unearthed by a forensic in-house investigation. There has to have been abuse in some parts of the developing world where the children are voiceless in places without a free press. The true test of the Pope’s sincerity will be whether he finds the abusers first. Let me say, though, there are so many decent, holy priests and nuns who gave up their lives to help others.

I believe Pope Francis did not know of the abuse and he has been ruthless in seeking resignations and prosecutions. But surely he must know enforced celibacy is so destructive for his priests, who suffer from a lack of intimacy and love. I strongly disagree with celibacy but I can see some logic here. Maybe the Church is afraid of nepotism or that priests will be too busy minding their own kids to look after the rest of their flock.

There are many areas where the Church is of great comfort to us. The Church does death very well. Our priests and nuns strive tirelessly to help the sick and the dying. Many of our local clergy are getting on in years but they literally work their bodies and minds to death. They are the surest, kindest and the holiest part of the Church.

The Pope will not allow women priests and this is why I will not be on the train. There is not a scintilla of logic behind this mad ban.

I didn’t want to write this piece today, didn’t want to ruin anyone’s day. I would say to the pilgrims on the train, take what you can from the visit and if it helps you, so much the better.

I condemn the actions of the saboteurs who destroyed large numbers of tickets. It was like burning voting cards. Whatever happened to the freedom to decide and the right to be wrong? There is a virulent form of liberal fascism taking root like knotweed right now in this country.

I would beseech Pope Francis to end the perverse ban on women priests. The women have always been the bravest. It was the women who took Jesus down from the cross when the men went and hid. And they are still hiding.

I heard an Irish bishop state the reason for the exclusion of women from the priesthood was “tradition”. I can’t remember which bishop it was, because they all sound the same. It was tradition to rape women during the Crusades and to disembowel the citizens of Jerusalem. The clergy even offered up Mass in the Holy Sepulchre in praise of the rapists and murders the day after the slaughter. Because it was traditional.

To tell an educated nation that women are excluded because of tradition is outrageously insulting. Is it how the hierarchy still think we are poor fools marvelling with our mouths open when the visiting priest opens the chrysalis stick into an umbrella and we the peasantry wonder at the miracle of it all.

I feel for you on the train today. You can still pray to God. My own favourite is Holy Mary, but why, oh why, can’t just one bishop or cardinal have the courage to stand up and plead for women? Just like Christ did.

I’m on the side of former President Mary McAleese. She has never thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Our former president knows the Church is doomed if this incomprehensible ban on women is extended.

A schism is inevitable unless there is change. The split has probably happened already. The divide is not between two churches but between those who are still practising Catholics and those who are not.

She knows, too, that we so need a strong Church in times when the world is becoming more cruel and amoral. We need a Church we can trust. And she’s only starting. I will be on the train for the next papal visit, if God spares me. But only if there is a woman Pope, and better again if she so happens to be gay, and married.