Irish leaders pay tribute to Pope as ‘exceptional’ and ‘remarkable’ figure

 Political and religious leaders in Ireland have paid tribute to Pope Francis as an “exceptional” leader whose papacy was “a gift to the world”.

The leader of the Catholic Church died aged 88, after months of battling ill health and just a day after appearing to bless the thousands of people in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Easter Sunday.

The President of Ireland said Pope Francis had approached his papacy with “a unique humility” and advocated for the importance of human dignity.

Michael D Higgins also said Pope Francis had sought to play a “positive role” on issues such as attitudes to women and the LGBT+ community in the Church.

Irish premier Micheal Martin said Pope Francis held “a special place in the hearts of Irish people”, while deputy premier Simon Harris said he “bore his illness with great dignity and courage”.

In tributes to the Pope, many recounted his 2018 visit to Ireland where he met survivors of clerical sex abuse and made a plea for forgiveness during a mass at Phoenix Park.

His death was announced on Easter Monday by Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.

Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin said “there was something different about this Pope” and called him “a very courageous leader”.

“Francis’s papacy has been a profound gift to the Church and indeed to the world,” he said, speaking at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh.

The bells of the cathedral rang out 88 times on the announcement of the pontiff’s death, and a book of condolence on the Catholic bishops’ homepage – www.catholicbishops.ie – was available to sign.

“His vision wasn’t so much of a rigid structure or a distant authority, but a Church that was committed to encounter solidarity with humanity, particularly the weakest of humanity.”

Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell said that Francis’s shunning of fineries had “brought a great freshness to the papacy”.

“He wasn’t in some sense curtailed by the structures that were there, he was able to break free of those and that was, I think, a marvellous gift to the Church.”

He also said it was possible Pope Francis would have approved of the sudden death he experienced.

“He would have liked to have died, I think, with his boots on, and he certainly did that,” he said.

“He certainly wasn’t hamstrung by structures, and his real message was, ‘We need to get out and preach the gospel. We need to get out into the highways and the byways and the streets’, and that was something Francis did all of his life.”

Many remarked on the Pope’s advocacy of the plight of migrants, the poor and the marginalised during his 12-year tenure.

During a visit to Ireland, which was part of the World Meeting of Families, he met with people at the Capuchin Day Centre and prayed with people at the Knock Shrine in Co Mayo.

Mr Higgins said: “As President of Ireland, may I join with all those across the world, from their different stations in life, who have expressed such profound sadness on learning of the death of Pope Francis.”

Mr Higgins said he had discussed issues such as global hunger, poverty, climate change and the plight of migrants and indigenous peoples with the Pope “at length” during five meetings they had during his papacy.

The Pope’s 2018 visit to Ireland was overshadowed by abuse scandals by institutions and figures from the Catholic Church.

A meeting with survivors was added to the pontiff’s schedule on the Saturday evening.