The event was commemorating a genocide far greater than the Northern Ireland conflict, but the memorial offered a powerful and relevant warning, Hughes said. Northern Ireland was created a century ago as a six-county entity with a two-to-one Protestant majority — fiercely loyal to the United Kingdom even as the rest of predominately Catholic Ireland won independence from it. Long a minority in the region, Catholics now comprise 42% and Protestants 37% of Northern Ireland's population of 1.9 million, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Faith leaders in Northern Ireland say church attendance has shrunk even among those who still identify as Christian, a phenomenon similar to the republic to the south in the wake of scandals in the Irish Catholic Church. What’s more, only 55% of Catholics in Northern Ireland would vote to join Ireland.

Source: The Herald April 04, 2023 18:29 UTC