Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to make a Papal visit to Ireland next year and it is thought he will celebrate an open-air Mass at Dublin’s Croke Park.

No confirmation has yet been announced by the Vatican but it is expected the Mass will be celebrated on June 17 next year, marking the end of a week-long International Eucharistic Congress.

It is hoped by Church leaders that Pope Benedict (pictured above during his state visit to the UK last September) will also visit Northern Ireland next year.

A visit from the Holy Father would only be the second visit by a Pontiff to the Republic of Ireland—following Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1979—and the first such visit to Northern Ireland.

Speculation of a Papal visit to Ireland has been rife since Pope Benedict selected Dublin as the venue for the world congress to foster spiritual renewal, in the wake of the clerical child abuse scandals which affected the Church in Ireland.

Under Vatican protocol, it is the Pope’s prerogative to announce his travel plans, and as Pope Benedict would be 85 by June 2011, a confirmation of his intention of leading the Congress in Ireland would not be expected until early next year.