A changed Ireland: 1979 to 2018

Ireland was a very different place when Pope John Paul II visited in 1979.

Historian Diarmaid Ferriter spoke to RTÉ News about the changes the country has seen in the 39 years since the last visit of a pope to Ireland.

'A decade of transition'

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"On paper, in 1979, the Republic was an overwhelmingly Catholic country. 95% of the population of the Republic were Catholic. At the same time, the 1970s is a decade of transition.

"There's a lot of debate going on about traditional ways of doing things, about traditional Ireland, about adapting to modern times in relation to the economy, in relation to the status of women, in relation to politics, in relation to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which was a huge backdrop to the 1970s.

"It's a very young population. The youngest population in Europe at that time. But on paper, Catholicism was still very robust, still very strong. Mass attendance rates were extraordinarily high at over 90% in some dioceses."

'Awesome in terms of the scale'

"The Papal visit in 1979 was awesome in terms of the scale of the mobilisation, people on the move.

"If you consider Ireland's deep history of Catholicism and attachment to the Catholic faith, the first ever visit by a pope was always going to be a very big deal.

"It was also a visit that generated, you could argue, quite a lot of nostalgia. In the sense that the pope was visiting a country that was changing.

"One of the messages that the pope was imparting in 1979 was the need for Ireland to remain faithful, for the need of Ireland to retain its devotion to Catholicism. He talked about the danger of alien influences, the permissive society, materialism, secularism.

"Now, arguably in the long run that message was essentially ignored but that wasn't really relevant in 1979. What was relevant was the depth of the feeling and that idea that Ireland could still be seen as a shining jewel in the international crown of Catholicism, that this small country was deemed worthy of a Papal visit."

'Look at everything that's happened since 1979'

"There are some who believed that the pope's visit in 1979 emboldened the conservative elements in the Catholic church. That it gave them something of a lift. That here was the pope reaffirming a very traditional message that they were determined to take into the 1980s in Ireland. That was partly reflected in very decisive referenda around divorce and abortion in particular in 1986, 1983.

"There were some who felt that some of the progress that had been made in relation to women's rights in the 1970s was eroded in the 1980s because of the public discourse around these divisive issues. But that was not sustained.

"And if you have a look at everything that's happened since 1979 - in relation to the wide and legal availability of contraception, the legalisation of divorce eventually in 1995, the repeal of the Eighth Amendment very recently, a couple of years before that the marriage equality referendum - you could argue that those who were advocating for sticking to the traditional allegiances or the traditional definition of marriage or the family that they've been roundly defeated. And they have been defeated if you measure the defeat by those referenda."

'The dark underbelly'

"There have been many challenges there for the church but obviously what became extraordinarily difficult from the early 1990s onwards in particular were the revelations of the dark underbelly of the Catholic church in Ireland and internationally. The child abuse scandal. The scandals around the institutionalisation of children and women in particular over many decades.

"We had a number of very high-profile reports into abuse of children and women in particular in institutions that were being staffed and run by the Catholic church and funded by the State and that dominated a lot of the focus on the Catholic church in Ireland from the 1990s onwards.

"There's no doubt that everything that we have learned since the 1990s has greatly coloured how people view the history of Catholicism in this country and indeed their own relationship with the Catholic church."

'A turning point'

"The Irish State had established very important diplomatic relations with the Vatican from the foundation of the State. There were always some tensions in the relationship between the Irish State and the Vatican when it came to controversial issues, like violence in the North in the 1970s, in the appointment of cardinals.

"There had been tensions behind the scene about what was appropriate of the Vatican to intervene in since the foundation of the State. But there had also been a sense that this was a relationship between the Vatican and the State that was cherished and had to be guarded very closely.

"That came under increasing pressure from the 1990s and beyond. And when the taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2011 excoriated the Vatican for its lack of cooperation with inquiries into child abuse that really was a turning point."

'The story of his visit'

"People may look at the Pope's visit in 2018 and wonder whether the word crisis has been overused in relation to the Catholic church in Ireland because they will see still a very significant mobilisation and a very sizeable crowd going to hear the Pope in the Phoenix Park.

"But it may also be the case that this visit will be overshadowed by the international scandal - the greatest scandal facing the Catholic church - and that's around child abuse. And if you consider the revelations in the report from Pennsylvania and just in the run up to the visit of Pope Francis you can see that that was dominating coverage of the Catholic church internationally and it creates then this expectation around Pope Francis.

"How is he going to respond to it? Is he going to say anything? Will this visit to Ireland be remembered for what he didn't say as opposed to what he did say? And can he translate that emphasis that he has on a humble church, on a humane church, on a church that speaks boldly by communicating with people.

"Can he translate that sentiment into a meaningful and credible response to this crisis around child abuse by clergy. If Pope Francis can't do that, it may well be that that will be the story of his visit to Ireland in 2018."