VATICAN CITY
The Wall Street Journal
August 23, 2018
By Francis X. Rocca
Pope Francis is under pressure to address a global crisis during weekend in a country scarred by mistreatment of minors
When Pope Francis lands in Ireland on Saturday, he will be visiting a once-devout Catholic society that is increasingly challenging the church’s authority—and where anger is running high over decades of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests.
The pope’s delicate two-day trip comes as clerical sexual abuse scandals unfold in other countries, including the U.S., and many Catholics are criticizing the pope’s response to the crisis as inadequate.
The topic is thus likely to dominate his visit, and his statements and gestures on the subject there will play out to a global audience.
This will be the first visit to Ireland by a pope in nearly 40 years. When John Paul II came in 1979, he drew 1.25 million people to an outdoor Mass in Dublin, more than a third of the country’s population at the time.
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