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THE GOVERNMENT IS at the Vatican’s disposal and “will assist in any way to facilitate Pope Francis’ visit” said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

The Pope is coming to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families next year.

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said that next year’s visit from Pope Francis to Ireland will cost around €20 million.

The first intel meeting of stakeholders for the visit took place last week.

Phoenix Park is on course to host the Pontiff for his farewell Mass during his visit next August. This would be the second time it is held in the park, with more than one million people attending Pope John Paul II’s mass in 1979.

The crowd in the Phoenix Park during Pope John Paull II's in 1979. Press Association Press Association

The visit next year is part of “our ongoing dialogue with the Church”, Varadkar told TheJournal.ie.

That was discussed at the meeting that we had and there is going to be another meeting with the Church in the New Year. They asked that we have someone here in the department as a contact point to assist them in the co-ordination and we made that available to them.

The Taoiseach said he does not know the duration of the visit yet or whether it will be an extended visit involving Northern Ireland, however there have been reports that this is most likely the case.

“We are very much at their disposal and the government will assist in any way to facilitate Pope Francis’ visit,” concluded the Taoiseach.

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