The pontiff will find a wounded flock in Ireland
THERE is quiet excitement among a dozen sisters of the Redemptorist order as they gather for evening mass, along with 30 or so other devout souls, in a plain, modern chapel with a practical, circular design. A discreet row of flags heralds Pope Francis, due on August 25th for what promises to be a tumultuous weekend.
In the surrounding smoky terraces of north Dublin, papal bunting is absent. Posters celebrate other Irish rituals, like the imminent Gaelic-football final. The zeal that John Paul II’s visit in 1979 generated is nowhere to be seen. Some 2.7m people, or 80% of the population, cheered him. These days, the nuns reflect a small and defensive subculture, almost as far from the mainstream as Dublin’s Sikh or Buddhist minorities. In tonier parts of the city, there is equally little interest in say, Catholic teaching on marriage, and much more chatter about the impending divorce between Britain and the European Union.
Like many a devout Hibernian over the...