Don’t give up

Dear Editor, I was pleasantly surprised to read in your paper of December 15 that almost 40% of people in the Republic of Ireland plan to see Pope Francis when he visits Ireland. With curiosity likely to increase over the next two years, I would expect the 11% who are undecided to come to think it might be worth seeing the Pope too, such that we could be talking of as many as 2.4 million people coming to see the Pope. 

And these figures don’t include the Catholics in the North – or those Protestants who at least realise that in these times of persecution, what unites us matters more than what divides us!

St John Paul was seen by, it’s said, about 2.7 million people when he visited Ireland in 1979. It may well be that we won’t hit those numbers in 2018, but I think talk of how a Mass in Croke Park might be sufficient is both ludicrous and defeatist, and likely to shortchange the many Irish Catholics who would like to see the Pope. Whether we’ll listen to our Holy Father, instead of just seeing him, is of course another matter!

Yours etc., 

Cathal Burke, 

Galway City, Co. Galway