In 1979, in the early days of his papacy, Pope John Paul II landed at Dublin airport and kissed the ground as he disembarked from an Aer Lingus Boeing 747 named the St Patrick. In 1988 the then leader of the Democratic Unionist party, Ian Paisley, denounced John Paul II as the antichrist. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/APKenny’s audience with Francis at the Vatican on Monday, after which the papal visit was announced, was seen as a bridge-building exercise. Some victims of clerical sex abuse warned the papal visit would be used by conservative religious forces to prevent the further secularisation of Ireland. “Glad he will visit Ireland in 2018.”

Source: The Guardian November 28, 2016 23:25 UTC