Pope Francis's visit to Ireland next year could still include a pastoral visit to Northern Ireland, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said
Dr Martin is currently in Rome on the 10-day ad limina visit made by the Irish bishops to the Pope.
Speaking to The Irish Times he stressed that every aspect of the Pope’s visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families (WMF) in Dublin, wherever he goes, will be focused on the family.
Whilst there are no firm plans for such a trip, it might be that when the Pope travels to the North he would meet with families involved in post-Troubles reconciliation rather holding a State-type visit, he said .
Earlier on Tuesday, in a video interview posted on the official World Meeting of Families website, Dr Martin said:
“Pope Francis has now said to so many people that he wants to come to Dublin for the meeting that we can be sure that that is his intention. He said to me, I am getting on in years, I mightn’t even be alive . . .
“I think that we should pray that he will come but it is important to remember that he is coming to the World Meeting of Families and that every aspect of his visit to Ireland will be focused on the family . . .
“He is not coming, as some people say, on a Papal visit and a meeting, even if they are intimately linked with one another. I think that will make this visit of the Holy Father even more important.”
For long, commentators have speculated that any future papal visit to Ireland would include Northern Ireland, something which John Paul II wanted to do but had to abandon for security reasons during his 1979 visit.
Archbishop Martin stressed that the Pope’s visit will be “an occasion to renew confidence in the family” which would help people “understand that it is within the family that they find human fulfilment”.