Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ALL SET FOR A WHITE EASTER
Snow gives festive feel to Bank Holiday Pope’s ‘no hell’ quote denied Holy spirits down South
IT was beginning to look a lot like Christmas as people in some areas woke to a winter wonderland on Good Friday.
And more snow is forecast over the Easter weekend, with the worst of it arriving on Monday.
A Yellow warning will come into effect for Northern Ireland at 9am on Monday and last for 24 hours.
Across the country, 15mm to 25mm of rain is likely, with 40mm to 60mm possible in the East.
Several centimetres of snow could fall on higher ground, although any snow falling on lower surfaces is unlikely to accumulate.
The public have been told there is a small chance flooding will impact businesses and homes with a chance of delays or cancellations on public transport.
Rain has also been forecast for today, with tomorrow expected to get the best of the weekend’s weather. Holiday- makers at Dover faced hold-ups yesterday, caused by heightened French security checks. Traffic was queuing back on to the A2 and A20.
And travellers were evacuated from Stansted Airport after a fire broke out on a shuttle bus outside the terminal at around 4.20pm. Four fire crews tackled the blaze and Essex Fire Service said the terminal had to be evacuated due to the “volume of smoke”.
Some passengers were reportedly ordered to remain inside the “packed” terminal until the fire was put out at 5pm. Most airports were busy, with two million people expected to head abroad over the Easter period. THE Vatican said the Pope was misquoted after he was claimed to have said there is no hell.
The comments, in the newspaper La Repubblica, caused uproar in the Catholic church.
Atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari, 93, said Pope Francis told him: “Hell doesn’t exist, the disappearance of the souls of sinners exists.”
Catholic author Antonio Socci accused the Pope of heresy and called for him to stand down.
He claimed Francis had given “public scandal to the people of God”.
The Vatican admitted the Pope met Mr Scalfari, but said: “No words in quotation marks should be considered as a faithful transcription of the Holy Father’s words.” DRINKERS in the Republic raised a glass to the ending of the Good Friday booze ban yesterday – but punters didn’t pack into pubs in the numbers expected.
Despite bars opening their doors and serving alcohol for the first time in over 90 years, many in Dublin city centre said it was a regular Friday trade.
Frank Shannon, assistant manager of the Merchants Arch Pub near Temple Bar, added the number of people who ventured out for a drink was disappointing.
He said: “It has always been busy for us on Good Friday as we were one of the few pubs that opened and served food.
“There haven’t been great numbers in today. It’s been disappointing so far. “