Eighty years after the event was last held in Ireland, the Eucharistic Congress can be used to chart the cultural development of the nation. In 1932, the festivities were used to demarcate the independence of the then Free State, to demonstrate it was capable of organising an international festivity, and to show off a post-colonial cultural nationalism, seeping with the puritanical trappings of "Rome Rule" and the autarky of newly-elected Prime Minister (no Taoiseach until '37) De Valera. One million attended the week-long event, crowned by the vocal chords of the world's then most famous singer, John McCormack.

Come 2012, however, and the event has become a national footnote, heavily overshadowed by Euro 2012, and greeted with mass indifference, with only 10,000 attending the opening ceremony in the RDS, compared with the expected figure of twice that. The mass derision for the national hierarchy has much to do with this, as does the increased tendency for worshippers to be "day-tripper Catholics", paying lip service via baptisms, communions, confirmations, Christmas, etc, in order to gain the school enrolment benefits, but secular in practice. On the cultural side, we're uneasily trying to gain the right balance between being Irish and European, slightly uncertain on what international image of the nation to project.

A host of issues there. I said a host--ah never mind.

The low numbers (especially considering that the Eucharustic Congress is an international event) are interesting. The Eucharist is not really a sexy cause in attracting the crowds.

But then, neither is the subject of "family", and yet an international Catholic Church gathering on that theme in Rome last weekend drew a million people (on the same day the media here was astonished that the same number turne out for the queen's jubilee). And the pope attracts huge numbers like that on a regular basis. That might be the pulling power of his celebrity rather than that of the RCC, but they are impressive numbers (and add yo that the tens of thiousands who turn up for his weekly audiences).

I wonder how things might have gone had the pope dared to show his face in Dublin. I suspect that he declined to come because the Vatican feared the booing he'd receive. But the numbers woud have been an awful lot higher, and present a different question for CZ to ask.

G.Man wrote:


Interesting you should mention that G.Man, there's a growing theory that JPII's visit in 1979 was more like the little Dutch boy in the dike, keeping the show on the road for another decade, rather than the triumphal trip that had been previously thought, similar to how the Queen and Obama were merely part of the Government's extended honeymoon. It's true there were crowds at masses for the Pope's funeral, and you would see big attendances if Benedict did come, but you'd get that for any international statesman, and it wouldn't do anything to stop the internal conflict within the Church.

There is no chance that benny is coming to ireland. Maybe the next pope might come to visit, but there is going to be no benny. He is so incredibly unpopular here it defies belief, and I wouldn't be sure that his popularity among mass going catholics would be much higher than his popularity among the population at large.

The last pope was very popular here, and since he was hopelessly sick for most of his last decade, he avoided a hell of a lot of direct blame for what was going on amongst the population at large. But that blame didn't go anywhere, it just hung around, and settled on Benny.

And the pope attracts huge numbers like that on a regular basis. That might be the pulling power of his celebrity rather than that of the RCC, but they are impressive numbers (and add yo that the tens of thiousands who turn up for his weekly audiences).

It can't be him, it has to be the office. He's a cranky, negative, ancient, hooded eyed german who looks like the emperor from star wars. He's a career civil servant, with the associated charisma. I suppose that there are just still a large number of people who would turn up to see the hat and ring.

But aside from being the target of a continual stream of protests from the sort of protesters that the police simply aren't going to kettle, benny would struggle to get 100,000 to a mass in the phoenix park, and compared to the million the last guy got, it would simply look too bad.

Seeing the pope on home turf is surely a tick off on the top ten things to do in Rome for a lot of people. Also many in the crowd will have self selected themselves by, well, travelling to Rome hoping to see the pope.

For the roadshow, I would imagine that comparing audience sizes with the nominal Catholic population will increasingly highlight just how nominal an ever growing number are.

My parents are pretty devout and would certainly have turned out any time for JPII. When Benedict came to the UK they, bluntly, couldn't be arsed, for all the classic reasons; disconnection from the upper levels of the hierarchy (they are still weekly mass goers), complex and offputting arrangements for those wanting to attend and, yes, a lack of star power from the main turn.