Pope Leo designates St Mary’s as Catholic cathedral of Dublin

This marks the first time since the Reformation that Dublin has had a Catholic cathedral.

Pope Leo designated St Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin as the official Catholic cathedral of the archdiocese on the bicentenary of the church’s dedication on 14 November 1825.

The cathedral will now be known as St Mary’s Cathedral, although Archbishop Dermot Farrell admitted to RTÉ News that its new name might take some getting used to: “It’s been called the Pro for 200 years, so I don’t expect it to change overnight.” The prefix Pro, short for Pro Tempore, had been used to indicate its provisional status amid pending plans to build a new Catholic cathedral in Dublin.

The Pro Cathedral site was bought in 1803 after penal laws against Catholics started to relax in the late 18th century, and the building was dedicated on the feast day of diocesan patron St Laurence O’Toole in 1825, several years before Catholic Emancipation in 1829.

In 2023, Archbishop Farrell had proposed that St Andrew’s Church could be made the city’s Catholic cathedral instead, but this suggestion was met by discontent from Dublin’s northern parishes, who felt that this would downgrade the status of St Mary’s.

Archbishop Farrell then announced in 2024 that he would ask Pope Francis to designate St Mary’s as the cathedral. Pope Leo XIV granted has this request and approved the designation of St Mary’s as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin by decree.

Archbishop Farrell said to RTÉ news that it was “significant” to make “this cathedral, the centre of the Archdiocese of Dublin, the mother church of Dublin, in one of the poorest areas of Dublin”.

In his homily at the Mass inaugurating the cathedral’s new status, he said, “The location of this cathedral puts it close to situations of poverty. For its many challenges this is a huge blessing. Of all who come here, it is most of all to the poor that this place belongs.

“This cathedral is not a museum or a monument, but a community of people. […] My prayer is that this cathedral will continue to be a place that offers sanctuary – somewhere that fosters and shelters personal prayer and reflection, a place of encounter with the person of Jesus makes us who we are, and shapes what we do, how we live. Being at the service of this encounter is the heart of the mission of the Church. And a place of prayer is ultimately a place of peace. May this cathedral be a place of peace for all who cross its threshold.

“To see the uniqueness or even sacredness of one place opens our eyes to the sacredness and uniqueness of other places as well. To see the Lord in this place – in the midst of our city and our lives – is to be open to God’s call to perceive his presence among us in the complex mix of grace and sin that is our world.”

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