The hierarchy hoped that Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland in 1979 might reverse the slide away from the church. Photo: Getty
The passing of Pope Francis touched many people. I felt nostalgia for what might have been. The Popes are still Catholic, but is Ireland? And does it matter?
Born and bred an Irish Catholic, I first saw a Pope with my own eyes in Rome in 1968. Ireland was then firmly Catholic in its official ethos. But it was changing. Inward investment, TV and the reforming papacy of Pope John XXIII had opened windows. A material and psychological recovery was under way.