VATICAN SOURCES last night discounted speculation that a papal visit to Ireland in 2012 has already been written into Pope Benedict’s schedule.
Speaking in Stormont yesterday, the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness suggested a visit by the pope “could happen as soon as 2012”. Mr McGuinness had been asked at a Stormont committee meeting about why he and First Minister Peter Robinson had not met the pope in Scotland last week.
Mr McGuinness said the pope’s visit had been a British state visit, saying that he would be pleased to meet the pope when he visited Ireland, adding: “I also have some grounds for believing that could happen as soon as 2012.”
Holy See sources last night were sceptical about such speculation, saying that for the time being no such trip had been planned.
Furthermore, the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, Noel Fahey, told The Irish Times that he had no knowledge of any such plans.
Many Vatican observers believe that, in the wake of the pope’s unexpectedly successful UK trip last week into “hostile terrain”, all bets are off with regard to where and when the pope will in future travel.
During his public audience in the Vatican yesterday, the pope looked back with evident satisfaction on his historic four-day trip to the UK, saying that it had begun “a new and important phase in the long-standing relations between the Holy See and Great Britain”.