Eilis O'Hanlon: Ireland needs to be mature enough to greet the Pope without losing its mind

Catholics should be left alone to enjoy the Pope's visit without being badgered by progressive Ireland, writes Eilis O'Hanlon

Faith: Two men waiting for Pope Francis’s visit to Knock in Co Mayo. Photo: Colin O’Riordan

Catholic Ireland's dead and gone. That seems to be the dominant theme of the Irish media coverage of the Pope's visit. Or perhaps that's just what anti-clerical agitators hope. Either way, it's not really true.

Even if the crowds are smaller than they were in 1979, a remarkable number of people will still have come out to see Pope Francis by the time his visit to Ireland ends this evening. That wouldn't be the case in many other countries, nominally Catholic or otherwise. When Pope Benedict went to England in 2010, the visit was met with general apathy.