IRELAND
Irish Independent
Monday June 18 2012
THE crowd surged to its collective feet for a standing ovation. It wasn’t the first noisy acclaim to ring to the rafters of Croke Park, but it certainly was the first of its kind.
The cheers from the 70,000-plus audience weren’t for the heroic exploits of a hurler, a footballer, a rugby team, or even a rock band, but for the Pope.
The papal address by Pope Benedict was billed as the highlight of the Statio Orbis Mass, which itself was the climactic end to the week-long Eucharistic Congress — the triumphant set-piece, a four-hour musical and liturgical celebration to confirm that a renewal of the battered Catholic Church in Ireland was officially under way.
Just before 5pm, the Pope appeared on the giant screens, which flanked the towering altar.
The 85-year-old Pontiff looked frail, and his strongly accented voice was at times almost incomprehensible, which made the subtitles that ran at the bottom of the screen a necessity.
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