Church thanks for Pope invite

Church thanks for Pope invite

9 March 2016

A SENIOR member of Catholic Church has thanked Newry, Mourne and Down Council for its invitation to Pope Francis to visit the area when he is in Ireland in 2018.

The invitation — which was not unanimous — was agreed last November following a proposal by Crossgar SDLP councillor Terry Andrews.

He proposed Pope Francis should be invited to visit the area to follow in the footsteps of St. Patrick who landed at Saul in 430AD at the start of his mission to bring Christianity to Ireland.

Councillor Andrews said the council area has many connections with Christianity  and explained during the last Papal visit to Ireland in 1979 it was hoped Pope John Paul would travel to Northern Ireland, explaining this never happened. He said successive Popes and the Queen have paid courtesy calls to each other and for the first time since 1910 the Queen visited Dublin.

A number of DUP, Ulster Unionist and UKIP councillors voted against the SDLP proposal when it was discussed four months ago but it was passed by 23 votes to four, with four abstentions.

At Monday night’s monthly council meeting, members were told that Archbishop Charles J Brown from the Apostolic Nunciature based in Dublin had thanked the council for its invitation.

His short letter adds: “On behalf of the Holy Father, allow me to express sincere gratitude for this very gracious invitation which has been duly noted.”