‘John Paul was a living symbol of “the fruitful marrying” of modern Ireland with the traditions of an older time’, writes Andrew O’Connell
Many richly-deserved tributes were paid to RTÉ’s Brian Farrell in the wake of his recent passing. Absent from most of the recollections though was a mention of his commentary during the 1979 papal visit to Ireland.
I was only a toddler at the time of the visit, but I saw the live RTÉ broadcasts of those ceremonies a few years ago, courtesy of the late Msgr Tom Fehily, the man who coordinated the Mass in the Phoenix Park.
The monsignor had an endless supply of stories from the 1979 visit and relished recounting them with often precise and intriguing detail. At the end of one conversation, he handed me his set of video recordings with the instruction, “watch those”.
I did, and the late Brian Farrell’s commentary, delivered with the lyricism of a poet, was a real treat.
His description of the anticipation of the crowd in Galway was a gem: “The air is electric with exhilaration, golden with gaiety, excitement is like a fever racing through the blood.”
Later, he captured the emotion of the occasion, noting that people are “confused, not knowing whether to weep or laugh, smiling through their tears”.
And as John Paul ascended to the altar, he mused that there was something ‘physically Patrician’ about this dramatic figure clad in the green chasuble.
Farrell was quick to grasp the significance of what was unfolding in Galway on that iconic morning and as the crowd cheered he declared, “this is a scene I don’t think anyone of us will ever witness again”. How right he was.
There were lighter moments too. The previous day in the Phoenix Park, he was quick to spot the incongruity of the Army Band playing the jaunty air of The Holy Ground as Pope John Paul toured the exuberant, million-strong crowd in the popemobile.
Knowing full well that the song referred more to the night time pursuits of sailors in Cobh than our country’s noble tradition of saints and scholars, he quipped: “Well, it mightn’t seem entirely appropriate, but nobody cares. It’s a seisiún on a vast scale.”
As he analysed the scenes in the park, Farrell proposed that John Paul was a living symbol of “the fruitful marrying” of modern Ireland with the traditions of an older time. Little did he know how much that symbolism would weaken over the following decades.
So, by way of a footnote to the other tributes which have been paid to the late broadcaster, that masterful commentary in 1979 contributed to making the papal visit one of RTÉ’s finest hours.
Fateful helicopter
John Paul travelled around the country by helicopter during that 1979 visit. The thousands of upturned faces scanning the autumn skies in anticipation of his arrival will have seen a red Bell 212 helicopter which carried the Pope to each of the five major gatherings of the pilgrimage.
After the papal visit, the helicopter was used at the Kinsale Head gas field.
Later it worked on the oil fields of Nigeria where, in 1998, it met a dreadful end, crashing into the Imo River in the east of the country resulting in the deaths of several passengers on board.
Pope in Asia
Pope Francis’ upcoming pilgrimage to the Philippines and Sri Lanka comes almost exactly 20 years after Pope John Paul visited both countries. That 1995 trip earned its place in history for the remarkable turnout of over four million people at the World Youth Day Mass in Manila.
It was a significant moment in John Paul II’s pontificate. Ever since he fractured his hip in April 1994, the world’s media had subjected the Pontiff’s health to intense scrutiny. Visits to Belgium, Lebanon and the US had to be cancelled. The man once known as ‘God’s Athlete’ was now using a cane and his face had started to assume the frozen, mask-like expression typical of Parkinson’s disease. Some speculated that a conclave was imminent.
When the demanding 10-day tour was announced, one commentator declared: “Three years ago, such a trip would have been ambitious. Today, it sounds more like wishful thinking.” So, John Paul had a point to prove.
And prove it he did, appearing rejuvenated as he toured the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Sri Lanka, and capturing global attention by assembling one of the largest gatherings in human history.