IRELAND
AFP
DUBLIN — Around 20,000 pilgrims on Sunday attended the start of an international Catholic festival of faith and culture in Ireland where the church has been hit by child abuse scandals and falling attendance.
The 50th International Eucharistic Congress began with an open-air mass in the Royal Dublin Society on the southside of the city which has been transformed into a religious village for the week-long event.
Some 10,000 pilgrims from more than 120 countries are attending the Congress which is an international gathering held every four years.
However, there were also a number of protest pickets at the opening mass, including victims of child abuse.
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, who is president of the Congress, said the abuse of children by priests was a “travesty”.
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