DERRY, Ireland — Ireland has been blessed to host two papal visits in the last 50 years. The visits bookended a period in a country that had undergone significant change in its Catholic faith.

Comparing Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland in 2018 with Pope John Paul II’s in 1979, then-British Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Campbell, himself a man born and reared in Ireland, posed the question: “Where does faith and where does the Church and where does society find an accommodation? These are fundamental questions and they’re not the same questions that would have occurred in 1979.”

Almost seven years ago, Francis built upon the papal message his predecessor shared when he came to the Emerald Isle almost 40 years prior.

Ireland back in 1979 was a country gripped by political violence in the north. When it was announced that the newly elected Pope John Paul II would visit Ireland, immediately speculation began on whether he would visit Northern Ireland, where the Catholic minority prayed fervently that he would come north across the border to provide hope. 

That hope was quickly scuppered: Extreme loyalists and Protestant opposition and threats from loyalist terror groups meant the farthest north Pope John Paul II traveled was to Drogheda, geographically in the Republic of Ireland but ecclesiastically part of the Archdiocese of Armagh, the traditional seat of Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint.

Tens of thousands of Catholics from the north flocked to that papal Mass in Drogheda, where the Pope issued a heartfelt and heartbreaking plea for the end of violence, saying, “Now I wish to speak to all men and women engaged in violence. I appeal to you, in language of passionate pleading. On my knees I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace.”

Two-thirds of Ireland’s population attended the papal events of 1979. The visit gripped the nation, as it was an unprecedented event with excitement to match.   

Pope John Paul also said Mass in Phoenix Park in Dublin, for an estimated 1.2 to 1.3 million people. 

He reminded the faithful, “Yes, it is from the Eucharist that all of us receive the grace and strength for daily living to live real Christian lives, in the joy of knowing that God loves us, that Christ died for us, and that the Holy Spirit lives in us.”

A banker from Dublin shared his astonishment that “a whole country came to love someone so much in so short a time.”

John Paul II led a youth Mass in Galway, where his emotional exhortation, “Young People of Ireland, I love you,” etched its way into the nation’s collective memory. He also visited Knock shrine.

Ireland was strongly Catholic but that strength was soon sorely tested over the years ahead. Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan of Waterford and Lismore pointed to the timeliness of Pope John Paul’s remarks. 

“In many ways, the visit of Pope St. John Paul was a pivotal moment — not only for the Church in Ireland but for the whole country. One could say that it signaled a kind of dividing line between the Ireland of the past from which many wanted to break away and a more modern Ireland. For others, it signified the good things about Ireland and about the faith which Patrick brought.”

Bishop Cullinan continued, “During his visit to Limerick on Oct. 1, 1979, Pope St. John Paul said that Ireland must choose which direction to go as a nation, whether to aim at mere earthly goals of economic success and prosperity or the higher goals set before by God.”

“It was as if he were reading what the future would bring. He spoke of the temptations … he knew would come to change our position regarding marriage and divorce, about the role of the family in society, about welcoming the children God sends and about the sanctity of every human life.”

“As a student of thought and of history and from his own pastoral experience, he knew well what temptations would be offered to us in order to become a modern and progressive country,” the bishop said.

“By and large, we have, like so many other countries, chosen poorly, and we can see the fallout from those decisions, in terms of family breakup, loneliness, loss of meaning in life, a rise depression, etc. But the solution is always essentially the same: the message of the Gospel. The light set before us by Christ through his Church will overcome all darkness, so we need never be afraid.”

It was into a very changed Ireland that Pope Francis traveled in August 2018 as part of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin. 

Pope Francis’ visit to a secular Ireland came on the back of a referendum that legalized abortion, overturning previous pro-life legislative protections, and same-sex weddings were now legal. 

Since Pope John Paul’s visit, the Catholic Church in Ireland had been repeatedly rocked by cases of clerical abuse in schools, hospitals, Magdalene institutions and orphanages. In many instances, reports of clerical abuse were dealt with inadequately, if at all. The visit of Pope Francis was a lightning rod for the anger, frustrations and tragedy of many of those affected.

This discourse dominated the media narrative, and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pointed out that Ireland was a much different country from the one visited by Pope Francis’ predecessor in 1979. He also said he hoped that the visit would open a new chapter in the relationship between the Irish state and the Roman Catholic Church.

In offering an apology, Pope Francis told the assembled dignitaries, “I cannot fail to acknowledge the grave scandal caused in Ireland by the abuse of young people by members of the Church charged with responsibility for their protection and education.”

A 90-minute meeting with survivors of clerical abuse was unscheduled, and the Holy Father appeared visibly shocked when told of the existence of mother-and-baby homes and Magdalene laundries for women whose children were born outside of wedlock or who were stigmatized in other ways.

The Pope’s primary engagement was the closing event of the World Meeting of Families. For his Phoenix Park Mass, inevitable comparisons were made with Pope John Paul II. The mainstream media gave attendance figures of 180,000, presented as some sort of disappointing failure. Tracy Harkin was the EWTN anchor for the visit. She offered a thoughtful recollection:

“The Festival of Families in Croke Park was a highlight for many. Who can forget the three simple words the Pope invited the 70,000-strong crowd to repeat three times: ‘Please,’ ‘Thank you’ and ‘sorry.’ Who would have also guessed then some 300,000 people would walk 3 km in the pouring rain to Phoenix Park for the final Mass on Sunday, despite all the negative predictions. Pope Francis was applauded enthusiastically by the pilgrims when he begged forgiveness for the pain caused in Ireland by clerical, religious and institutional abuse and called for acts of public penance.

“It was an incredibly successful, joyful and grace-filled week for the Irish faithful. Personally, my favorite moment was seeing Pope Francis pray in the beautiful apparition chapel in Knock.”

For the duration of the visit, it is fair to say that the mainstream media maintained a running negative narrative. Even the organization of the Phoenix Park Mass seemed more likely to discourage than encourage attendance. But the faithful were uplifted and inspired by the Pope’s humble demeanor and his words.

As Francis said at Mass in Dublin: “[L]iving in love, even as Christ loved us (cf. Ephesians 5:2), entails imitating his own self-sacrifice, dying to ourselves in order to be reborn to a greater and more enduring love; the love that alone can save our world from its bondage to sin, selfishness, greed and indifference to the needs of the less fortunate. That is the love we have come to know in Christ Jesus. It became incarnate in our world through a family, and through the witness of Christian families in every age it has the power to break down every barrier in order to reconcile the world to God and to make us what we were always meant to be: a single human family dwelling together in justice, holiness and peace.”

Francis’ visit in 2018 may not have had the iconic cultural impact of the events with John Paul II in 1979. But Pope Francis showed up, accepted criticism and offered an apology in the face of sustained criticism. Coming up on seven years after that visit, there are signs that the Catholic Church in Ireland has learned from the errors of the past and there are some hopeful signs of rebirth — centered on the Eucharist.