"Pope Francis to visit the Dublin street where John Paul failed to stop"

[This is just one of the articles about Pope Francis upcoming visit to Ireland.]

Article by Patsy McGarry
August 12, 2018 

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/pope-francis-to-visit-the-dublin-street-where-john-paul-failed-to-stop-1.3593844

 

Pope John Paul II waves to cheering crowds from his Popemobile. Running behind schedule, his planned stop on Séan McDermott Street never happened.

Pope Francis is to visit Seán McDermott Street in Dublin’s city centre briefly on Saturday, August 25th, 2018.

During his 1979 visit to Ireland, Pope John Paul II had planned to stop on the street to visit Matt Talbot’s tomb in Our Lady of Lourdes church. However, the Popemobile was running behind schedule and drove on, much to the disappointment of many local people. Some said afterwards joyriders did not go down Seán McDermott Street as fast.

   

Crowds outside Our Lady of Lourdes, Seán McDermott Street in 1979 waiting for Pope John Paul II. 

 

“The story still persists, of course, of how people were waiting for Pope John Paul to stop,” said Fr Hugh O’Donnell at the church on Sunday. “The significance of a stop, no matter how brief, is very important. In some ways it’s a corrective, almost. The expectation was there in ’79, that he would stop,” he said.

 

Fr O’Donnell said Pope Francis’s visit, which would follow his meeting at Dublin Castle with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and other members of the Government, was not an official stop. “He won’t be saying anything. He won’t even come into the church. So, I would say it’s more a symbolic gesture, a very reassuring gesture for the people of the area.

“Also we have the tomb of Matt Talbot here who is a real symbol of, an exemplar of, someone who dealt with addiction in a particular way. He’s well known all over the world, even more so I think than locally.”