The Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, said he travelled to Rome to ask if Francis would travel north of the border “to affirm the peace process”.
But he said it became clear that it would be a 36-hour visit to Dublin, apart from a quick trip to Co Mayo.
Pope Francis arrives in a wheelchair at the end of a mass in St Peter’s Square at The Vatican on April 6 (Andrew Medichini/PA)
The primate of Ireland also said that the pope’s words of repentance for clerical abuse scandals during the 2018 visit “were worth so much” and that his promotion of empathy towards migrants will be one of his strongest legacies.
The pontiff visited Ireland for two days in August 2018, which included a visit to Knock, a meeting with victims of clerical abuse, and a visit to a homeless centre run by the Capuchin Fathers.
The visit culminated in an open-air Sunday Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where pilgrims’ attendance was a fraction of the million people who greeted Pope John Paul II at the same spot in 1979.
The legacy of church abuse cast a long shadow over the pope’s Irish visit, during which he addressed a number of crimes by its institutions and members.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Archbishop Martin said that his address to the victims of clerical abuse and mistreatment during the Phoenix Park event were worth a lot.
“I think the actual words that the pope spoke, particularly whenever he expressed those very, very, sincere apologies and repentance to victims and survivors of abuse, I think, really, they were worth so much.”
Much was made of the attendance numbers during that visit as it was observed that they were significantly down on Pope John Paul II’s visit.
“Most of us expected that this would be something much smaller, not least because the world has changed,” the archbishop said.
“Peopl...
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