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AHEAD OF POPE Francis’ visit to Ireland later this month many people have been reminiscing about the last time a Pope visited Ireland.
John Paul II visited Ireland from Saturday 29 September to Monday 1 October 1979 – the first time a pontiff had been here. About 1.25 million people attended Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on 29 September.
John Paul II visited more parts of the country than Francis plans to – with over 2.5 million people attending events in Dublin, Drogheda, Clonmacnoise, Galway, Knock, Limerick and Maynooth.
Homes all over the country displayed, or still display, ornaments or images marking the historic visit.
A number of readers have been in touch with us, recalling their own memories, or those of their relatives, of the 1979 visit.
Camping outside the Phoenix Park
Emer Desay’s mother wasn’t taking any chances to make sure she got into the Phoenix Park bright and early on the day of the Papal Mass – sleeping outside the gates the night before.
“After camping outside the Phoenix Park gates overnight she brought in her sleeping bag and set up camp for his arrival,” Emer told us.
Her mother also took photos of the crowds of people waiting to board a train to the Mass. Her bus ticket is also pictured below.
Skipping the queue
Peter Hegarty said he and his family got to skip the queue in the car parking line at the Phoenix Park because their car was full of Pope-related items.
Peter won 250,000 stickers from the company he worked for, which he in turn sold to a friend.
“The friend who bought them thought it a money-making idea to sell them at a £1 each,” he recalled. This idea didn’t pan out and the stickers ended up “lying in a warehouse”.
Instead, Peter’s family handed out some of the stickers as mementos of the visit. He was 34 at the time and attended the Mass with his wife Patricia and two children, Caron and Paul.
“My family took a few thousand and gave them out at the [Phoenix] Park,” Peter said.
“I chanced my arm and drove with the family to the entrance of the park.
“Because we had paraphernalia relating to the Pope in the car, my family and I were allowed skip the car parking line and drive into the Phoenix Park right up to the dignitaries’ car park and get a classic view of the whole affair,” he said.
Sitting in the Popemobile
Michael Murphy sent us this great shot of his mother, grandmother and uncle sitting inside the Popemobile.
“My uncle was a Leyland truck dealer at the time and Leyland supplied the Pope’s transport,” Michael explained.
Anne Marie Nally saw John Paul II in Galway. She was 18 at the time and went with her parents and siblings.
“I remember people being very patient and happy. I remember the Pope passing near us in his popemobile,” she recalled.
It was a youth Mass and Anne Marie said she particularly remembers singing two hymns with the lyrics: ‘He said freely, freely, you shall receive’ and ‘How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, good news’.
“When I went back to college a couple of days later after the summer break I learned that many of my fellow students also had seen the Pope.
“I do remember the country coming to a standstill for three days while he visited. It was lovely,” she said.
Tony Whelan was at the same Mass and had “an unscheduled meeting with the Pope”.
To this day I’m still often referred to as the ‘guy who met the Pope’ and with the upcoming visit am constantly being reminded again and get a slagging, ‘I suppose you’ll be off to see the Pope again!’
“As of now I’m not going this time but that may change,” Tony said.
Following in his father’s footsteps
Dave Rooney’s father Noel was a driver with Irish Rail when John Paul II visited. Sadly Noel passed away two years ago but Dave and his mother recently found the original train timetables and instructions for the visit.
Dave also works in public transport and will be involved in Pope Francis’ visit.
“Like my Dad I work in public transport and will be involved in this year’s visit. It’s great to be able to look back at these documents,” he said.
Singing at Ballybrit
Michael McLoughlin sang with the youth choir at the Mass at Ballybrit Racecourse, Galway.
“I got to sing a solo along with a soprano, Anna Caleb. That’s us in the photo on the day. I was 22 years old at the time.
“The second photo is my security pass. Because I was in the choir I was beside the main altar for the entire ceremony,” he recalled.
Margaret Flanagan was just three weeks old with John Paul II visited.
Her family has the below souvenir to mark the occasion – it notes that John Paul’s visit was during the centenary year of the apparition at Knock shrine in Co Mayo.
‘Young people of Ireland, I love you’
Maeve Kerrigan recalls seeing the pope in Galway as a teenager, and her parents and sibling saw him in Dublin.
Her father Hugh O’Connor (84) was a stewart at the Papal Mass at the Phoenix Park.
“The call for stewarts to assist at the Papal Mass was announced at local masses in Palmerstown church … Dad signed up straight away,” Maeve said.
“On the day itself he and the rest of the Palmerstown contingent of volunteers set out at the crack of dawn, approximately 4am, to walk from Palmerstown to the Ashtown Gate entrance to the park (it took them just under two hours).
“He was supplied with a cap and sash in the Papal colours of white and yellow, and a lunch box and drink.
“Dad remembers that when people started to arrive that everyone was in great spirits and particularly remembers all the different styles of deck chairs and foldable chairs of all kinds.”
Maeve said that her father had “a closer view than most” as the Popemobile passed by.
He recalls that the Popemobile moved slowly enough around each corral, with the Pope blessing people as he passed, and an amazing sense of the power and larger than life aspect of the man himself.
Maeve said her mother and four of her siblings also attended the Mass.
She was 15 at the time and, as she was due to go to Galway to see the Pope the following day with a local youth club, stayed at home to mind her two youngest siblings, who were aged four and five.
Because of our location in Mill Lane in the Liffey Valley and, as the crow flies, the Phoenix Park is not that far away, we did hear quite a bit of day travel across to us, particularly with the arrival of the pope in the helicopter.
“In fact we actually saw that fly over, and heard the cheers that accompanied that arrival. My sister who was only four at the time remembers those cheers distinctly.
“Although not part of the youth club in Palmerstown I travelled the next day to Galway. I didn’t know anybody and my recollection of the train journey down was of teenagers being teenagers, and not really being there for anything other than getting to hang out with friends.
However, I was proved wrong in some of ways when it came to the event itself and when the Pope uttered the immortal ‘Young people of Ireland, I love you’ there was a real sense of feeling special in that moment.
Maeve sent us photos of one of the earthenware bowls used to distribute communion to the congregation at the Phoenix Park.
“It was passed on to my family after the event by a deacon who was one of the
many on the day who took part in the celebration of the Mass,” she told us.
Bridie Farrell sent us a photo of a label used to indicate the assigned area for people from Kilmore diocese during the Pope’s visit to Drogheda.
A photo sent to us by reader Karen Murtagh shows the front page of the Evening Press on 1 October 1979.
Its main headlines states, ‘Don’t Allow Divorce – Pope’ – referencing a comment made by John Paul II to an estimated crowd of 400,000 people in Limerick. The newspaper also mentions his comments on abortion – something he called “an abominable crime”.
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Up at 3.30. The drive from Longford stuck behind an eejit with fog light. Parked in a field in Leixlip. Got a bus for about 600 yards. Walked miles to Phoenix Park. Shepherded into a corral. Closer to Cork than to the stage. Long feckin mass. Long walk back to the field. Shattered. But you had to go. Don’t recall anyone having tickets. And nobody complained to Livewhinge or, as Livewhinge wasn’t invented, a letter to Gaybo
@Insider at RTE: I remember a lot of houses got burgled.
The Dart didn’t start operating until 1984/85 …. Wonder how people were on it in 1979 on their way to Mass…. nothing short of a miracle…
@Sean Leonard: the old CIE trains the orange and ivory colour trains. No Darts until 1984.
@Sinead Lynch: Yup – I distinctly remember the smell of diesel and the roar of the train’s engine.
I pestered my Mam to let me go with my older sister & her friends. I was 12 & thought it was, in retrospect, like going to a rock festival. We walked from Drumcondra, where we were dropped off to meet my sister’s friends & walked to the Phoenix Park in the very dark early hours. No-one thought this was a bad thing at the time. At the Phoenix Park it was very simple-we were shown to the next area that was available. Others were very organized with deck chairs, food, thermos flasks
& blankets. We had none of that. We did have sandwiches though. We were, for won’t of a better term, coralled in an area bound by wooden fences on all sides. My abiding memory was of the massive cheer when the Pope’s plane flew over & of the horrible the loos. Interestingly, pretty much the worst I encountered at that time & I was well prepared for festival loos in the future for life. I wish I had any souvenirs like my coral sticker but nah. We attended mass like was pretty much normal in my 12 year world, saw the pope mobile (but not really seeing the pope it in) & went home exhausted. Overall, I was really glad I didn’t appear to be an enormous pain to my sister & her friends.
Remember being in Germany when it came on the TV I was mortified at the backwardness of Ireland .. seriously we were brainwashed and the spectacle was a horrific reminder of the power of the Church over an unquestioning peasantry..
@DeFonz: were you in Germany in 1980 when the Pope visited six cities? I hope you reminded the locals they were unquestioning peasants and their country was backwards
@DeFonz: Yea, the Germans would never fall for a cult, especially one that specialised in mass rallies.
@paul kelly: Brilliant!
@paul kelly: at least someone is acknowledging the cult status of the Catholic Church.
@DeFonz: Thank Dev for adding to that…
I remember going with my 8 siblings and my parents to Maynooth up at 3 and on the road huge bowl of oatmeal and packed in to the parcel shelf in the car . I was thrown at pope John Paul and picked up by him , or so the story goes photo seems to back it up I was only 4 don’t remember much just remember the clothes been warm when my mum dressed me in front of the range , I am not religious and I won’t be going any were near a church or to see any pope again , put religion gives people some comfort and if that makes the happy fair play . The church have been the worst abuser of power in history people have finally woken up to that .
Whoopi givvess AAA flyyyyying FoOOOK!
@Stephen Devlin:
More than half a million people do.
Unless I’m mistaken the biggest gathering of people in Ireland since 79.
@P.J. Nolan: make up your mind, are 500k people going or did loads of tickets get booked by people protesting?
There’s def not 500k people going to this event
@Barry Somers: who are these masses of people that have gotten tickets with no intention of going? I don’t know one person.
@Jane: well according to the poor victimised catholics, there are thousands of them.
@David Cagney: so you’re going David?
@Seamus Mac: they’d have no interest in him seamus. He’s not a child.
At eighteen yrs of age we had no clue and to be honest no one had then…
@Tomas: Plenty of jokes all the same?
Oh it was horrible. An absolute nightmare. I was sick and had diarrhoea and I just cried and cried.
I was ten months old.
Most of us didn’t know the full story in 1979 , think a lot of people going to see the pope this time are coming from outside the country due Ymir the Workd Meeting of Family’s. Just wish the tax payer wasn’t paying for it .
The pope mobile was a 1979 Ford D-Series converted flatbed, not a leyland.
Young people of Ireland we love you.! What a statement to make. As they say It all comes out in the wash.
@bings: You are equating love with abuse?
My sister and I ( 16 and 13) were dispatched on the special 3.45 am train out of North Dublin. I have a vivid memory of vomiting out the top window of the train on the way in, slept my way through the whole mass and it being dark when we got home again. Still remember the cheer that went up when he arrived.
Innocent Ireland ..No Internet No Dart No Luas No mobile phones..I travelled to Galway. Left Newbridge in large convoy around 3 am
Not interested in the slightest in this visit
‘Young people of Ireland, I love you’. But not all the young people, as we now know.
@Earth Traveller: “Young people of Ireland, we prey on you”
would probably have been a more apt mantra.
There wasn’t a dart til a few years later
I can’t even exaggerate my sigh of ‘I care nay’. Great pope though.
@Ian McGrath: ah yeah he was alright, fantastic at covering up the abuse, guy that replaced him was also heavily involved in doing the same thing back in the 70s and 80s.
@Barry Somers: I was referring to the new one . Facepalm
@Ian McGrath: indeed, facepalm for you.
The current pope accused abuse victims of slander when they accused bishops in Chile of covering up abuse. Those bishops have since been removed.
Yeah, he’s great…. At protecting the church. Just like all the previous popes.
@Barry Somers: ffs ur such a know it all. I wish i were as fantastic as you. PS. I care not for the church as I don’t even follow it. Seems to me like u care. Pity.
The dart didn’t start til a few years later
Amazing how people are easily brainwashed lol
@Scorpionvenomm: to be fair I don’t think they were “easily” brainwashed. They spent life from birth to whatever age they were being manipulated and brainwashed. Batism, Mass every week, daily prayers in school and cathecism, confession, communion, confirmation. To be fair, anyone who was atheist at the time had some strength of character to think for themselves and beyond the systematic, relentless brainwashing.
I remember going with my 8 siblings and my parents to Maynooth up at 3 and on the road huge bowl of oatmeal and packed in to the parcel shelf in the car . I was thrown at pope John Paul and picked up by him , or so the story goes photo seems to back it up I was only 4 don’t remember much just remember the clothes been warm when my mum dressed me in front of the range , I am not religious and I won’t be going any were near a church or to see any pope again ,
Do not Approach the altar of the Lord if you have poor eyesight (Lev. 21:20) - i.e., if you wear glasses or contacts and dare approach the altar with your prayers to the Lord.
The pope wears glasses!!!!
@Paul Furey:
Quoting the Old Testament ?
Try reading the New Testament
@Paul Furey: Maybe read the whole chapter and the context of that verse rather than plucking it out and using it for your agenda.
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