The organisers of the Papal visit to Ireland have said there has been no official confirmation that Pope Francis will visit the Marian Shrine in Knock during his two-day visit to Ireland.
However a spokeswoman for the World Meeting of Families said that the pope’s itinerary is expected to be confirmed in the coming days.
She said his attendance has been confirmed at two events, the Festival of Families which is being held on Saturday 25 August in Croke Park, and the Closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families in the Phoenix Park on Sunday 26 August.
Both events will be ticketed and the latter is expected to be one of the biggest events in Ireland in 2018, with a capacity of 600,000 at the Papal Cross.
30,000 people have registered to attend the Pastoral Congress of the World Meeting of Families, which runs in the RDS in the days before the Papal visit.
This will be the highest attendance ever at the World Meeting of Families congress since it was established 24 years ago by Pope John Paul II.
The World Meeting of Families takes place every three years and the event in Dublin will be the second that Pope Francis has attended during his papacy.
Alleged victim of clerical abuse calls for meeting with pope
A man who says he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Dromore in the 1990s has said he will be deeply offended if Pope Francis does not meet him and other victims during his visit to Ireland.
Seán Fallúin also criticised the Police Service of Northern Ireland's handling of its investigation into the allegations against the late Fr Malachy Finnegan, a former president of St Colman's College in Newry.
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Mr Fallúin said he was sexually abused by Fr Finnegan when he was ten, and it continued for seven years.
He has severely criticised what he said was the Catholic Church's failure to fully investigate the claims.
The allegations led to the resignation of the Bishop of Dromore Dr John McAreavey earlier this year.
Additional reporting Brendan Wright
