When Pope Francis visits Ireland this August, he will find a nation changed beyond recognition since Pope John Paul II visited in 1979. The country that 40 years ago looked like an outpost of traditional Catholic life has seen a spectacular collapse in the faith and an exodus from a scandal-hit Church. The recent landslide vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the constitution, which underpinned the country's strict abortion law, demonstrated this change in the most dramatic way.
Pope John Paul's visit saw enormous crowds responding to his charisma, though in retrospect it looks more like the swansong of the old Catholic Ireland than the revival many hoped for at the time. Pope Francis will face a very different environment. The crowds will be large, though on nothing like the scale of 1979. But also, while John Paul enjoyed almost universal deference, Francis – despite his personal popularity – will be loudly admonished by Irish politicians and media for being “behind the times” on sex and gender issues.
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