Belfast council to invite Francis to visit

BELFAST CITY Council has voted to invite Pope Francis to visit the city. No member of the council voted against the decision to issue the formal invitation, with 30 votes in favour, writes James Macintyre.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) abstained, while Nationalists from the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Sinn Fein and the Alliance Party voted in favour.

The move follows a unanimous vote in February in the Seanad, Ireland’s Upper House, to extend an invitation for Pope Francis to visit the Republic.

The SDLP motion in Belfast read: “This council notes that the Irish Seanad, on 19 February, unanimously passed a motion by Senator David Norris, inviting Pope Francis to visit Ireland.

“Should the Holy Father accept that invitation, this council invites him, as a man of faith, peace and reconciliation, to visit the city of Belfast, and calls upon the Northern Ireland Assembly to extend a similar ­invitation.”

The DUP accused Nationalists of a “stunt”, with Councillor Lee Reynolds saying the motion “wasn’t a game we were willing to play”. He added: “They were wanting an insult and we weren’t going to give them that, so we chose the path of abstention.”

The vote means that City Hall will now write to the Pope requesting that he considers visiting the city in the event of a trip to Ireland.

Pope John Paul II visited Ireland in 1979. Though he was forced to cancel plans to visit Northern Ireland after an intense bout of violence, he celebrated Mass on the banks of the Boyne in the Archdiocese of Armagh.