Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
How John Paul’s visit set us on peace path
IRA bomber tells film of 1979 effect
A NEW documentary highlights the effect Pope John Paul ll’s visit to Ireland in 1979 had on the peace process.
It features EX-IRA man Shane Paul O’doherty whose letter-bomb campaign hit the London Stock Exchange, the Bank of England and a Government building.
He joined the Provos at 15 but found religion while serving a life sentence and credits the Catholic Church for sparking a turning point in negotiations. The Derry man said: “When I first turned away from the IRA and apologised to my victims, I was not taken seriously, everyone thought I wanted early release.
“I was in prison in England when suddenly the Pope arrives in Ireland and speaks to these men, asking them to turn away from violence and make a new life. Suddenly I was taken seriously.
“Weeks after his visit, I had been visited by senior Labour MPS and Father Edward Daly.
“I was the first IRA man to publicly turn away from the IRA in 1977 and after the Pope’s visit, scores of other prisoners left. To put the Pope’s visit in context, 28 days before the visit, Mountbatten was killed along with 18 soldiers. I believe that was the closest Northern Ireland had ever come to civil war.”
A Plea For Peace also features interviews from SDLP veteran Seamus Mallon, Fianna Fail’s Martin Mansergh, Rev Harold Good, former MP Lord David Alton.
It focuses on the Pope’s famous appeal in Drogheda: “On my knees I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence and return to the ways of peace,” in front of a quarter a million people, and argues this sowed the earliest seeds of peace. Director David Naglieri said filmmakers discovered letters from Fr Reid to John Hume, which directly quoted the papal message. He added: “The words germinated in the minds of peace makers and without that happening Good Friday doesn’t happen.”
John Paul II In Ireland: A Plea For Peace will have a limited release with Omniplex cinemas later this month.