ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has said that Pope Francis may not have time to meet with church abuse survivors during his visit to Ireland.
Archbishop of Dublin Dr Martin has said he is urging the Vatican to arrange a meeting between Pope Francis and survivors of industrial schools, Magdalene laundries, mother and baby homes and those who suffered from clerical sex abuse, but fears the pontiff won’t have time during his two-day visit later this month.
The Pope is scheduled to visit Ireland on August 25th and 26th, where he will be treated to special performances by Daniel O’Donnell and Nathan Carter during an event in Croke Park.
He will also hold mass at Phoenix Park and pay a visit to Knock Shrine in Mayo.
Speaking at an exhibition in the Phoenix Park yesterday, Dr Martin said he had no response from the Vatican on whether or not Pope Francis will make time to meet abuse survivors.
“It would be great for him to meet some of those survivors”, he said.
“You will have to get a small group which is representative and it is never easy to do that.
“Generally speaking the Pope will do it very quietly somewhere.”
Following the announcement of the Pope’s visit, some protesters set up a Say Nope to the Pope campaign, and began boycotting the sale of tickets to both the Croke Park and Phoenix Park events.
One protester claimed he had booked 700 tickets for the Phoenix Park mass.
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