CARDINAL Seán Brady has welcomed Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s suggestion that the Pope should be formally invited to pay a visit to Ireland.
While at the Vatican over the weekend to attend the Canonisation Mass for Saints John XXIII and John Paul II, the Taoiseach was one of many world leaders who had an opportunity to speak with Pope Francis.
He used the chance to reassure His Holiness that the Irish Government would fully support any invitation that the Irish Bishops might make for him to formally visit Ireland.
Cardinal Brady, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has since praised Mr Kenny’s suggestion, with a spokesperson claiming he ‘wholeheartedly welcomes’ the initiative.
They confirmed that the bishops would discuss issuing a formal invitation to the Pontiff at their quarterly meeting in June.
Over the weekend the Taoiseach also announced that the name of the nominee for the reinstated position of Irish Ambassador to the Holy See would be brought to the Cabinet by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore. The embassy closed in 2011 for economic reasons.
Mr Kenny was in Rome to see Pope Francis declare Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II as saints at a ceremony during Mass in Rome’s St Peter’s Square on Sunday, April 27.
