Dublin, Ireland, Dec 15, 2011 / 17:08 pm
The Irish government signaled on Wednesday that it would accept a visit next June by Pope Benedict for the Dublin International Eucharistic Congress, giving encouragement to organizers who had feared hopes of a papal visit had all but gone.
Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore told an Irish parliamentary committee Dec. 14 that “(i)n order to remove any misunderstandings, I would like to make it clear that should the government be informed by the Holy See that Pope Benedict wishes to visit Ireland at a time of mutual convenience – for instance at the occasion of next year’s Eucharistic Congress – I have no doubt that the government will respond positively.”
In October, when asked a similar question, Gilmore told the parliament that “an invitation has not issued nor is one currently under active consideration.”
The organizers of the Eucharist Congress saw his statement as a rebuff to the idea of a papal visit. A month later, Gilmore also closed the Irish embassy to the Holy See in Rome, after 82 years in existence.