Pope John Paul was a superstar, Francis could never live up to that excitement and enthusiasm 39 years ago...

Church no longer holds dominant role in Irish society

THE visit of Pope Francis was always going to be compared with the swashbuckling success of John Paul in 1979. Francis, in my view, could never live up to the excitement and enthusiasm generated by his colourful predecessor 39 years ago.

If I might make a comparison. Older readers may still remember something of the visit of President John F Kennedy in 1963.

The whole country exploded into a carnival over his three-day visit and the joy, pride and celebration knew no bounds.

Other American presidents have since visited, most notably Clinton and Obama, but while a warm welcome was extended to them it compared as nothing with the adulation we showered on JFK. So it was with Pope Francis. Quite simply, 1979 was never going to be repeated.

Then, John Paul was a superstar and the first Pope ever to set foot on the Emerald Isle.

His hugely triumphant visit may have seemed, at the time, a new beginning for the Irish Church.

Few of us realised it was in fact the beginning of the end for the type of Church which then existed.

I well remember attending the youth Mass in Galway and being entertained by two of the leading clerics of the day – Eamon Casey and Michael Cleary.

Ironic was it not when we consider all that was to follow, not least concerning those two gentlemen?

The visit by Francis, or indeed any Pope, was always going to be overshadowed by the many disturbing events which had marked life in the Catholic Church in Ireland in recent decades. The various scandals have hit the Church like a tsunami.

The endless crises and scandals which we have all witnessed may well be described as a massive surgical operation, performed without an anaesthetic on a patient who thought he was in the best of health.

We are all familiar with the various reports – Ryan, Ferns, Cloyne etc.

So it was into this minefield Francis was stepping and he could never live up to everyone’s expectations.

I believe the programme prepared for him was far too ambitious. He is a man in his 80s, quite feeble and with the additional handicap of not being fluent in the English language.

In the circumstances I believe he performed reasonably well.

Our President and Taoiseach, I believe, emerged from the papal visit with enhanced reputations. The images from Aras an