POPE John Paul Refused to Shake Hand of Ireland’s Female President, She Reveals

By James O'Shea
Irish Central
January 11, 2019

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/pope-john-paul-refused-to-shake-hand-of-ireland-s-female-president-she-reveals

Former Irish president Mary McAleese has revealed how Pope John Paul refused to shake her hand when they met and shook her husband’s hand, instead, asking him “would you not prefer to be the president of Ireland instead of your wife?”

McAleese recalled she quickly interjected: “You would never have done that to a male president. I’m the elected president of Ireland whether you like it or not.”

McAleese was speaking at an event hosted by the Irish American Partnership in Boston.

Disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law also tried to intimidate her stating, “I’m sorry for Catholic Ireland to have you as president,” she recalled when they met.

Law brought her to a room where a female right-wing lawyer and theologian Mary Ann Glendon was waiting and tried to brief her on why only men should have positions of power in the Catholic Church.

Read more: Former Irish president Mary McAleese brands Catholic Church “empire of misogyny”

Pope Benedict XVI meets U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon during a private audience at the Vatican on February 29, 2008. (OSSERVATORE ROMANO/AFP/Getty Images)4

Pope Benedict XVI meets U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon during a private audience at the Vatican on February 29, 2008. (OSSERVATORE ROMANO/AFP/Getty Images)

She said: “His remarks were utterly inappropriate and unwelcome.