Pope gets lukewarm reception in Ireland
DUBLIN (AP) — Pope Francis is facing a lukewarm reception and scattered protests on his trip to Ireland.
Even his vow to rid the church of the “scourge” has been dismissed as a disappointment by some of Ireland’s wounded victims.
But others who met with him in private say they’re heartened that he would respond to their plight, including two of the thousands of children who were forcibly put up for adoption for the shame of having been born to unwed mothers.
Survivors of one of Ireland’s wretched mother and baby homes plan to hold a demonstration today at Tuam, site of a mass grave of hundreds of babies who died at a church-run home.
Francis isn’t scheduled to visit, but he says the description of the site “still echo in my ears.”
Some of the Irish victims who met with Pope Francis are children who were forced to be adopted because they were born to single mothers or lived in Ireland’s notorious “mother and baby homes.”
In a statement Saturday, they said they urged the pope to publicly state that their mothers had done nothing wrong and to encourage reconciliation between them. They said the pope apologized on behalf of the church.
Paul Redmond, who was born in a home and given up for adoption at 17 days, urged the pope to publicly call on the six orders of Catholic nuns who ran the homes to accept responsibility for the traumas they caused, issue an apology, and pay for the costs of reconciliation inquiries.