There are hopes spreading that the newly elected Pope Leo XIV will visit Ireland, particularly to the North as a proposed visit from Pope Francis was shelved in 2018 when he came for the World Meeting of Families.
Writing in this week’s paper acclaimed journalist and columnist with The Irish Catholic Martina Purdy said there is “speculation of a Papal visit to the north of Ireland”.
Ms Purdy quoted Belfast’s youngest parish priest Fr Conor McGrath, who was in St Peter’s Square when Pope Leo XIV was elected, who said “it would be a tremendous lift for us”.
She said: “Pope St John Paul never made it beyond Drogheda due to security concerns and though there were advanced plans for Pope Francis to visit key sites in the north it never happened. It’s a pity. Pope Francis got a hard time in 2018; many of the politicians and media, who lined up to praise him in death, were not quite so kind in 2018.
“Perhaps Pope Leo XIV will be the one to visit Armagh for what some of us call, unfinished business. The Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin seems quite confident that it will happen.”
