Taoiseach invites Pope to Ireland following discussion ranging from diplomacy to abuse reparations

‘We share many common values: a belief in the importance of a rules-based international order, and dialogue and diplomacy as the only route to lasting peace,’ the Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said after meeting the Pope.

Pope Leo XIV has been invited to visit Ireland by the Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin following a 45-minute private audience in the Vatican on Friday.

“We would really appreciate a visit,” the Taoiseach told the American-born pontiff, but Mr Martin told reporters after the meeting that he understood that the Pope has a “very busy schedule” especially in view of the ongoing conflicts in Sudan, Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Ukraine.

Before his election to the papacy, Pope Leo visited Ireland a number of times as Augustinian superior general, including on one occasion when he was assaulted on a street in Dublin by a passer-by who saw his clerical collar. He was helped by an Augustinian confrere.

He recounted the incident in 2019 at a conference in Peru where he said, “Never in my life, anywhere in the world, have I been physically attacked as I was in Ireland, for just going out on the street.”

“A man passes by, he looks at me [and says] ‘you’re a priest’ – and he starts attacking me. Fortunately, another Augustinian, who is twice as big as me, came to defend me.”

Pope Francis made a brief two-day visit to Ireland in 2018 as part of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin. The trip was overshadowed by protests by victims of clerical and institutional abuse and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s bombshell letter accusing Francis of covering up abuse by the disgraced US prelate, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Speaking on Friday in Rome, Micheál Martin said Pope Leo had made peace a defining theme of his papacy, and he was interested in the peace process in Northern Ireland and how peace was sustained and nurtured there.

“I made the point to him that what enabled us to achieve peace on the island of Ireland was that there was a fundamental political will on all sides, and that seems to be absent in the Middle East, but that is the fundamental prerequisite for peace,” Mr Martin told reporters afterwards.

“He was interested in that, and I get the sense that the Pope was really very anxious to try and get the world to move in a different direction to the one it’s moving in at the moment, which is one of increasing conflict and war, which is having terrible effect on people.”

“My sense is he has a genuine desire for an end to the wars that are happening in the Middle East, and the war in Sudan, in particular, and Ukraine,” the Taoiseach said.

Ahead of the meeting with the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in the Papal Library in the Apostolic Palace, Mr Martin said, “We know from our own experience on this island the challenge of finding lasting peace and how this crucial work continues.

“The role of the Church and clergy from all denominations was critical to bringing about peace on this island and I will discuss with the Pope the ongoing process of reconciliation, including the difficult but essential work on addressing the legacy of the Troubles.

“In the first year of his Pontificate, Pope Leo has been a steadfast advocate for human dignity, for the poor and marginalised, for a humanitarian approach, for social justice and the environment, and for peace.

“We share many common values: a belief in the importance of a rules-based international order, and dialogue and diplomacy as the only route to lasting peace.

“I look forward to exchanging views with him on how we can work together to promote effective multilateralism as the best way to address our many challenges and bring an end to conflict.”

The bilateral discussion also included historical abuse linked to religious-run institutions and schools in Ireland and redress schemes for survivors of abuse.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Mr Martin told RTÉ News he had asked Pope Leo that “every effort would be made to get the religious orders to engage proactively on the matter of redress”.

He said the Government had established a commission of inquiry into religious-run day schools and boarding schools, and one of the orders had come forward, “but a lot of orders haven’t”.

Mr Martin said assets were being sold by religious orders and the Government wanted those assets allocated to redress schemes.

“The Government will continue its engagement with religious orders, and I think the sense is here that people do need to take ownership of this in terms of religious orders.”

Mr Martin told RTÉ News that Pope Leo was “very clearly of the disposition that the Church has to have ownership of this”.

“We discussed the issue of trauma itself, that it’s not something that [is resolved through] one act or one engagement. He’s very aware of that, that this is an enduring programme of work that doesn’t begin with a commission of inquiry or acknowledgement of guilt, but that it has to be worked on constantly and on a continuing basis.”

The Tablet has asked the Association of Leaders of Religious and Missionaries of Ireland (AMRI) for a comment in response to the Taoiseach’s comments.

Following the private audience with Pope Leo, the Taoiseach also held talks with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

According to the Vatican’s press office, the talks were “cordial” and satisfaction was expressed over the good relations between the Holy See and Ireland.

The talks also covered Ireland’s socio-economic situation, as well as relations between the local Church and the State, with particular focus on the area of education.

International policy issues included Europe and the Middle East, the prospects for peace in those regions, as well as multilateralism.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Martin said, “As we look ahead to the centenary of diplomatic relations between Ireland and the Holy See, this meeting is also an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with the Church as a country in all its facets, including the deep pain and trauma of the survivors of clerical abuse and their needs.”

Following his visit to the Vatican, the Taoiseach visited the Pontifical Irish College in Rome to meet members of the college community and view its archives, where he announced Government funding to support the cataloguing, digitisation and preservation of the archive as part of the College’s conservation, accessibility, and public outreach project.

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