If the Pope visited..

Lord Trollington

The last time he visited, Pope John Paul attracted almost 1million People in Phoenix park, 300,000 in Limerick and Galway.

Its rumoured that Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting Ireland next year.

If he does will you attend his visit, if you do will it be in support or to protest?

How many would attend in your opinion 1million in 1979, how much have we changed since then?

admiralofthefleet

if it visits it should be arrested for covering up decades of child abuse, tried and then deported

foxyboxer

I would be completely indifferent and carry on as usual. Just like when Barry and Liz came over.

MrStuffins

You'd easily get 1m people alright.

Irish people love a good protest!

efb

The Knights of Columbanus would love it!

force eleven

You'd still get huge crowds,but nowhere near the figures of '79. He might sell out the 02 though. Or Whelans.

Cianos

Probably hundreds of thousands will show up and it'll be deemed a great success.

The_Kew_Tour

You would have all the Celtic fans out in force anyway with them being such a holy bunch and all that;)

Turtyturd

I'd go purely to see him landing in an Imperial Shuttle.

yermanoffthetv

About three'fiddy.

seamus

I'd say you still might get a million people or close to it. But that would probably be the ceiling. You'll get plenty of people going along just to see it, regardless of their beliefs.

However, you need to consider that in 1979 the population of Ireland was 3,368,217, whereas this year it was counted at 4,581,269.

So a million people next year would be a drop in attendance of more than 25%.

Two things worth considering are that many of the immigrants who've moved to Ireland over the last 15 years would be quite Catholic, Poles in particular, which will bolster the figures a bit. And also that any visit of the Pope would also involve something which was not seen the last time: Protests. Huge, loud and visible protests against the Pope.

If nothing else it will be interesting to see what it does bring. The Ireland of 2011 looks nothing like the Ireland of 1979, in religious terms anyway.

bijapos

I was always under the impression that the Catholic Church totally exaggerated those figures in 1979 to prove how powerful they were. If you totalled the numbers who went to see him it meant that everyone in the country saw him at least once which is total boll0x.

A couple of hundred thousand would show up to see him, maybe more if its a one off event. If he decided to apologise for the Vatican covering up decades of child abuse he would get a good few more.

Dotrel

Turtyturd wrote: »

I'd go purely to see him landing in an Imperial Shuttle.

The Pope always draws a big crowd, and well dressed too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmc6tR2V1Vc

later12

bijapos wrote: »

I was always under the impression that the Catholic Church totally exaggerated those figures in 1979 to prove how powerful they were. If you totalled the numbers who went to see him it meant that everyone in the country saw him at least once which is total boll0x.

A lot of the diaspora would have travelled back to Ireland from the UK, as well as British Catholics, since he only visited Ireland and not the U.K.

As well as this, I'm not sure the Roman Catholic Church needed to invent figures to prove how extensive their influence was over the country, their influence really was that massive.

I'd imagine the figures are reasonably accurate alright.

However, given the worsening diplomatic relations between Ireland and The Holy See (worsening in a diplomatic way, but nevertheless...) I don't think there's a chance in Hell of the Pope going to Ireland in the foreseeable future.

opinion guy

seamus wrote: »

If nothing else it will be interesting to see what it does bring. The Ireland of 2009 looks nothing like the Ireland of 1979, in religious terms anyway.

!?
Its 2009 again ? Christ how much did I drink this weekend ?:eek:

Logical Fallacy

force eleven wrote: »

You'd still get huge crowds,but nowhere near the figures of '79. He might sell out the 02 though. Or Whelans.

I think if he did an acoustic set in Whelans it would go down a treat.

JerryHandbag

Logical Fallacy wrote: »

I think if he did an acoustic set in Whelans it would go down a treat.

His predecessor knew how to work a crowd

the groutch

Angela's just sending him over to campaign for the new Treaty, nothing to get excited about.

Seachmall

Anyone know what the story is regarding the charges that were presented in The Hague this year is? Or is the case still ongoing?

If the Pope came here I'd love for him to be arrested, justice is justice regardless of the politics involved.

Turtyturd

JerryHandbag wrote: »

His predecessor knew how to work a crowd

So did his master

Dotrel

Turtyturd wrote: »

So did his master

Nuremberg '34. What a gig! I still have the ticket.

gigino

schhhhhh ! Actung. he does not wear the swastika on his arm anymore.

Dotrel

gigino wrote: »

schhhhhh ! Actung. he does not wear the swastika on his arm anymore.

I've heard he still has them on his unterhosen tho.

Yakult

Wont support nor protest.

Huge waste of tax payers money tho.

Deus Ex Machina

He's always had an evil, Darth Sidious look about him. At least with JP there was a kind exterior to the church's wickedness. Good ol' Benny is just too villainous looking, too easily associated with repression and the clandestine fumblings of cadaverous hands in the darkness. I doubt he'd be anywhere near as big a draw as his kindly predecessor.

Turtyturd

Dotrel wrote: »

Nuremberg '34. What a gig! I still have the ticket.

I think of it as the start of him selling out.

Dotrel

Turtyturd wrote: »

I think of it as the start of him selling out.

Nah, like the Beatles he did his best work once he stopped touring.

FouxDaFaFa

I'm surprisingly myself by saying this but I would probably go to protest. Not against religion, but against him specifically and the Catholic church as an organisation.

John Doe1

If the pope visited, id ask a few of my uncles friends from the orange lodge to come down and start booing and throwing projectiles at him:D

ejmaztec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iifhkMcsQIM

dilbert2

Lord Trollington wrote: »

The last time he visited, Pope John Paul attracted almost 1million People in Phoenix park, 300,000 in Limerick and Galway.

Its rumoured that Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting Ireland next year.

If he does will you attend his visit, if you do will it be in support or to protest?

How many would attend in your opinion 1million in 1979, how much have we changed since then?

Mothers, lock up your sons, the pope is coming to town.