IRELAND
The Times
August 19, 2018
By Bryan Appleyard
On the eve of another papal visit, in pubs and parks Irish people say the Catholic Church has lost its grip on the nation
In 1979 Pope John Paul II celebrated mass before 1.25m people in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. Next Sunday only 500,000 are expected to be in the park for mass with Pope Francis.
The real figure may be even smaller. The Say Nope to the Pope campaign has been scooping up tickets that it will not use. Also, off the record, some local churches have been saying their allocated tickets are not being fully taken up.
Catholic Ireland is dying; its iron grip on the Irish imagination has been broken. This is partly because of secularisation but it is the child abuse revelations that have caused real hatred and disgust.
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