Pope Francis to visit shrine of Knock when in Ireland

Pope Francis will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock when he travels to Ireland at the end of August for the Ninth World Meeting of Families.

The official itinerary for the papal visit over 25-26 August was unveiled on Monday by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, president of the World Meeting of Families (WMOF2018), and Archbishop Eamon Martin, president of the Irish Episcopal Conference.

The packed two-day schedule includes meetings with President Michael D. Higgins, the Irish government and representatives of civil society on Saturday 25 August.

The following morning, Pope Francis will fly to Knock in the West of Ireland where he will briefly visit the apparition chapel and deliver the Angelus in front of the recently renovated basilica. Crowd numbers will be restricted to 45,000.

Responding to the news, Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam, in whose diocese Knock shrine is located, said: “The apparition at Knock was a family apparition incorporating Our Lady, St Joseph, Jesus as the Lamb of God and St John representing the extended family.”

It will be the second time a pope has visited Knock shrine as Pope St John Paul II visited it on 30 September 1979 to mark the centenary of the apparition in 1879.

Although more than 1.25 million people attended the papal Mass in the Phoenix Park in Dublin in 1979, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told media on Monday that due to health and safety protocols, attendance at Pope Francis’ liturgy will be capped at 600,000.

Addressing media in Maynooth, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh acknowledged that Catholics in Northern Ireland would be disappointed that there was no opportunity for the Pontiff to cross the border.

“We really were hoping that this might be an opportunity for the Holy Father to visit and I think he really would love to come to Northern Ireland but the pressures of this particular event and all that he wants to do for the World Meeting of Families has overtaken that,” he explained. 

However, according to Archbishop Eamon, a "huge number” of people from Northern Ireland have already booked their places at the World Meeting of the Family Congress in the RDS in Dublin (22-24 August), the Festival of Families event on the evening of 25 August in Croke Park with Pope Francis and the open-air papal Mass at the Phoenix Park on Sunday afternoon 26 August.

“People are delighted that he is coming to this island and we’ll celebrate that and make the most of it,” said the Archbishop of Armagh.

The two church leaders also spoke the inclusion of gay families at WMOF2018. One of the prominent speakers announced on Monday for the Congress at the RDS ahead of the papal visit is Jesuit Fr James Martin, who has sought bring reconciliation between the LGBT community and the Catholic Church. 

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin paid tribute to Fr Martin’s book "Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity" which he said helped families coping with the difficulties that emerge “when children acknowledge their sexuality”. He also emphasised that the book had the support of three US cardinals including Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

Archbishop Eamon Martin told journalists that one of the aims of the World Meeting of Families is to “explore the kinds of challenges and the realities of family life in Ireland today”. He explained that gays and lesbians were one of the realities and challenges for catholic families.

Among the speakers lined up for the Congress of the World Meeting of Families is Cardinal Vincent Nichols, leader of the Church in England and Wales, who will speak on the theme: "Support and preparation for marriage in the light of Amoris Laetitia".

According to Fr Timothy Bartlett, WMOF2018 Secretary General, 91 of the 200 speakers are lay women, 65 are lay men and 44 are clergy or religious.

Speaking to the Tablet he revealed that the Dublin event is already setting new records with the highest number of individuals of any world meeting of families registered, with 30,000 already signed up, as well as the highest number of children under 18, 6,000.

“We have had to redesign our children and youth programme because of the numbers. It is also very clear that young families are coming as the largest demographic in the registrations so far are parents aged 29-40,” he said. 

Though the official itinerary made no mention of a meeting between Pope Francis and survivors of clerical abuse, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said, “We will be looking at a way that this can be done”.

“The programme is very tight and there is a wide range of people who are survivors,” he acknowledged, referring to survivors of church-run institutions, survivors of clerical abuse, those who were detained in Magdalen laundries and in mother and baby homes.

But he pledged that a way would be found for the Pope “to address the concerns of all of those people”.

The visit will be mainly in Dublin. There is no room in his schedule to visit Northern Ireland. 

Apostolic journey of His Holiness Pope Francis to Ireland on the occasion of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin 25-26 August 2018