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WE’VE BEEN GIVEN the biggest hint yet that Pope Francis might make the first Papal visit to Ireland in nearly 40 years.
The Pope announced yesterday that the next World Meeting of Families will take place in 2018 in Dublin.
The Pontiff made the announcement before he left Philadelphia after this year’s World Meeting of Families. The event is held every three years and is described as “the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families”.
Yesterday’s Mass in Philadelphia was attended by almost one million people. Before Mass, the Pope greeted Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.
The exact dates of the 2018 Meeting in Ireland have yet to be decided by the Pontifical Council for the Family but the Dublin Diocese says is expects it to take place across various different parts of the country.
Previous Meetings have been held Rome in 1994, in Rio de Janeiro in 1997, Rome again in 2000, Manila in 2003, Valencia in 2006, Mexico City in 2009, Milan in 2012 and Philadelphia 2015.
The last time a sitting Pope visited Ireland was Pope John Paul II in 1979.
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