‘I assure you, and the people of Ireland, of my prayers’ – Pope meets President Higgins

‘I assure you, and the people of Ireland, of my prayers’ – Pope meets President Higgins

President Michael D Higgins and Pope Francis at Áras an Uachtaráin.

Photo: MAXWELLS

President Michael D Higgins questioned Pope Francis about the hurt caused by child sex abuse and the exclusion of women and members of the LGBT community from aspects of life within the Catholic Church.

It his first official official engagement on his visit to Ireland, the pontiff was greeted by the President, his wife Sabina, and Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone at Aras an Uachtarain.

As the sun shone across the south portico his Holiness received a salute from the Irish Naval Service Guard of Honour and the army band played renditions of the national anthem of the Vatican and Amhrann Na bhFiann.

President Higgins then led the pontiff along the red carpet, down the Francini corridor with its busts of former presidents including, with some irony, the recently completed likeness of Mary McAleese, one of the Pope’s harshest critics in the run up to his visit.

In an atmosphere of hushed reverence the Pope took some minutes to write a message in the visitor’s book. He wrote ‘With gratitude for the warm welcome I have received, I assure you and the people of Ireland of my prayers, that Almighty God may guide and protect you all. Francis.’

The President beamed broadly while Sabina appeared tremulously emotional as they posed with Pope Francis for photographers. The Pope then had a private meeting with President Higgins in which they are believed to have conversed in Spanish, which is the Pope’s native language and which the President studied intensively during 2012.

A spokesman for Mr Higgins said the pair discussed matters of “mutual concern”.

“President Higgins raised with His Holiness the immense suffering and hurt caused by child sex abuse perpetrated by some within the Catholic Church. He spoke of the anger which had been conveyed to him at what was perceived to be the impunity enjoyed by those who had the responsibility of bringing such abuses for action by the appropriate authorities and have not done so,” he said.

“Both leaders agreed on the importance of protecting vulnerable communities and individuals, at home and abroad. President Higgins spoke to Pope Francis on the issues of homelessness, health, education and nutrition. They both emphasised the importance of measures to prevent and redress all forms of abuse of privilege or power.

“President Higgins spoke to His Holiness of how the achievement of an equality of rights defined a Republic, and of how acts of exclusion, including those based on gender and sexual orientation, had caused, and were still causing, great suffering.”

Pope Francis and Mr Higgins also discussed climate change, inequality, poverty, migration and violent conflict.

They agreed that human rights must be at the centre of political and personal responses aimed at tackling such issues, the spokesman added.

Pope Francis, who appeared somewhat frail – he was helped up and down steps at the Aras – later followed in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II in planting an oak tree in the south portico.

He later planted a tree at Aras an Uachtarain.

The tree-planting ceremony got under way after the pontiff was greeted at the president’s official residence.

Francis planted an Irish oak tree (quercus robur) on the lawn in front of the south portico. In doing so, he became the second Pope to plant a tree on the grounds of the residence.

A Syrian family, who are asylum seekers, were invited to observe the tree-planting ceremony. They watched the proceedings alongside Aras an Uachtarain staff.

Other dignitaries who have planted trees on the lawn at Aras an Uachtarain include presidents John F Kennedy and Eamon de Valera, the Queen and President Barack Obama.

Both the Queen and President Obama planted English oak trees during their visits to Ireland in 2011.

Ireland’s first president Douglas Hyde planted a Cornish elm on the north lawn of Aras in 1939.

Since then, each of the country’s nine presidents has planted an official tree on the grounds of the residence.

The tree-planting tradition dates back to Queen Victoria, who planted the first official tree on the grounds in the mid 1800s.

Press Association

, https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/pope-francis-in-ireland/i-assure-you-and-the-people-of-ireland-of-my-prayers-pope-meets-president-higgins-37250877.html

http://asylumireland.ml/i-assure-you-and-the-people-of-ireland-of-my-prayers-pope-meets-president-higgins/