{"id":51565,"date":"2025-04-26T07:38:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T07:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/51565\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T07:38:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T07:38:27","slug":"what-does-northern-irelands-reaction-to-the-death-of-pope-francis-say-about-attitudes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/51565\/","title":{"rendered":"What does Northern Ireland\u2019s reaction to the death of Pope Francis say about attitudes? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the lobby of Belfast City Hall<\/a>, the queue was of councillors, not members of the public. <\/p>\n

It took time, once the book of condolence for Pope Francis<\/a> was opened on Wednesday, for people to drift in and sign their names; when they did so, they were Protestant as well as Catholic<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Among them was 79-year-old Colin Flinn, from a Presbyterian background, who told The Irish Times the late pontiff had been \u201ca great example to the world, to politicians, to everyone. And so humble.\u201d<\/p>\n

This language was echoed by DUP <\/a>leader Gavin Robinson, who described the pope in an interview with the BBC as \u201csomeone who wanted to do things differently, he seemed a more gentle, humble, engaging and caring individual.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was important, Robinson said, to \u201crecognise the significance of this passing\u201d. Francis was, he said, \u201cnot somebody that I follow, but somebody I can recognise for the position that he holds and the importance that people attach to him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI recognise this is a significant moment of mine, of yours, those neighbours in Northern Ireland for whom the pope means a great deal.\u201d <\/p>\n

His party colleague, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, made similar remarks, offering her \u201csincere condolences\u201d and recognising that Francis was \u201cheld in high regard and admiration by so many … I know that his loss will be felt deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such words from senior DUP figures would once have been unthinkable. <\/p>\n

For this is the party founded and led by Ian Paisley, the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, who in 1986 was thrown out of the European Parliament after he heckled the then pope, John Paul II, while brandishing a poster declaring him the anti-Christ. <\/p>\n

\u201cHistory shows unionist politicians were not always positive or constructive about the Catholic church and at times their comments were hurtful and disrespectful, as Ian Paisley\u2019s track record in the 1980s testifies,\u201d says writer and former BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent Stephen Walker. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe DUP leader\u2019s comments show how times, and indeed unionism, have moved on, and many in high office, like Gavin Robinson, are more mindful of the power of language and the need for civility and kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, says former chair of Co-Operation Ireland Peter Sheridan, \u201csimple gestures like those short number of words that Gavin Robinson and Emma Little-Pengelly made, become etched in people\u2019s memory\u201d. <\/p>\n

It was Sheridan who masterminded another hugely significant gesture \u2013 the handshake between Queen Elizabeth II and Martin McGuinness in Belfast in 2012. \u201cThe power of that small gesture, if you like, even momentarily, gave a sense of moving forward … [and] the comments of Gavin Robinson and Emma Little-Pengelly do go a way to resolving differences and rebuilding trust,\u201d he says. \u201cThose few comments are a move from division towards connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the risk of stating the obvious, gestures matter in Northern Ireland; in the last year or so, there have been many firsts \u2013 such as the presence of the First Minister, Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Michelle O\u2019Neill, at a PSNI graduation ceremony and at a Northern Ireland soccer match in Windsor Park, or the visit of Little-Pengelly to a GAA club in west Belfast. <\/p>\n

That these are seen as significant reflect how Northern Ireland is changing \u2013 politically, socially, demographically and in terms of religious adherence. In the 2021 census, almost one in five identified themselves as having no religion \u2013 a \u201cmarked increase\u201d, the statisticians said, compared to the one in 10 who did so a decade earlier.<\/p>\n

Yet it also reflects how far Northern Ireland has to go. Sectarianism persists in post-conflict Northern Ireland; hours after the pontiff\u2019s death, a video was being shared online of an anti-pope song apparently played by a band at an Apprentice Boys\u2019 parade in Lisburn. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be churlish not to recognise that the DUP\u2019s comments are a vast improvement on what was said in the past, so there\u2019s obviously a recognition within the upper echelons of the DUP that there\u2019s a need to move past where they\u2019ve been up to this point,\u201d says nationalist commentator Chris Donnelly. \u201cBut there\u2019s still significant room to travel.\u201d <\/p>\n

He cites the presence of Ms O\u2019Neill at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, or the official Remembrance Day event last November \u201cwhen she was alongside members of the British armed forces at Belfast City Hall. Sinn F\u00e9in recognise, as the leading voice of nationalism, that actions matter as well as words.\u201d <\/p>\n

Michelle O\u2019Neill will attend the pope\u2019s funeral in Rome, while the Deputy First Minister will not. <\/p>\n

For a senior DUP politician to have attended the pope\u2019s funeral \u201cwould have been a very symbolic gesture … that would have been appreciated,\u201d says Donnelly. <\/p>\n

The power of such a gesture cannot be underestimated, says Sheridan. \u201cIt may not solve everything, but it definitely opens the door, and sometimes that\u2019s the most you can hope for in these situations.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the lobby of Belfast City Hall, the queue was of councillors, not members of the public. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[13744,1144,21946,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-51565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-catholic-church","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-pope-francis","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114403128676752618","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}