'The Green Country' - Remembering Pope Francis' special relationship with Ireland

As tributes have poured in from across Ireland since the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, the late Pontiff's close connections to what he affectionately referred to as 'the green country' have been commemorated and examined. 

Before being elected as Pope in 2013, the Argentine was known as Father Jorge Bergoglio. In the 1980s, Fr Bergoglio was an unknown Jesuit priest when he decided to spend a short sabbatical break in Dublin to try to improve his English skills. It was during this time that he became closely acquainted with Ireland and would later make a historic visit to the country as Pope. 

Despite Ireland's deep and complex connections with Catholicism and the Vatican, Pope Francis was only the second ever pope to visit the country following Pope John Paul II in 1979. Almost 40 years apart, both popes experienced drastically different receptions in Ireland. 

For Pope Francis, he was returning to an Ireland where the wreckage of mother and baby homes and the deeply rooted abuses of the Church had long been exposed. This was a major feature of the 2018 papal visit, with protests appearing in parts of the country and it being a central part of Pope Francis' two-day itinerary. 

In his tribute to Pope Francis, President Michael D Higgins noted that the child abuse scandal was an important element of the Pope's visit to Ireland. President Higgins wrote: "During his visit to Ireland, Pope Francis spoke of the scandal of child abuse, including in the Church, and its consequences for victims and families."

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Indeed, Pope Francis met with victims of clerical abuse at the Vatican Embassy in Dublin during his Irish visit. Following this meeting, the Pope offered a series of apologies for the abuse endured by those at hands of the Church at the last day of the tour's Mass in the Phoenix Park and made a public plea for forgiveness. 

Despite the controversy, 150,000 people still made the pilgrimage to see the Pope at the open-air Mass in the Phoenix Park. He did earn the respect of many at the gathering for addressing the wrong-doings of the Church in Ireland and its many failures. 

Additionally, a further 80,000 people gathered in Croke Park on the Pope's first night in Ireland for the World Meeting of Families event. Daniel O'Donnell, Andrea Bocelli and Patrick Bergin were among some of the performers at the gathering. 

In just the short two-day trip, the late Pontiff also managed to visit the Knock shrine in Mayo and the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin run by Brother Kevin Crowley. He also visited Áras an Uachtaráin where he signed the visitor's book and planted an Irish oak tree as Pope John Paul II also did in 1979. 

Although it was a short trip that lasted less than 48-hours, it did mark an important milestone for Irish Catholics that Pope Francis was willing to address the major issues within the country concerning the Church.

As the process gets underway to elect a new pope, it will be interesting to see whether the next pope will have the same interest in Ireland as Pope Francis did.