Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI began his trip in the U.K. celebrating mass in Glasgow with a congregation of over 65,000 people. However, across the water in Ireland a poll taken by the Irish Times showed that the Irish would not welcome the Pope to their shores.
By Thursday evening as the Pope finished celebrating Mass in Glasgow 64 percent of the voters had said that they would not "welcome a visit by the pope to Ireland."
Many of those who cast a negative vote cited the child abuse scandal's in the Church as their main reason for not feeling comfortable with the idea of the Pope visiting Ireland.
A commenter, called Eddie said "Unfortunately the Ireland of 2010 is far different that the Ireland of 1979 when Pope John Paul said mass in the Phoenix Park. Then the scandal that was to bring the Irish Catholic Church to its knees was still being denied and the victims were yet to speak out against the institutional abuse."
Another poster said "I would love to see the Pope come to Ireland, but I also think he must apologize on behalf of the Church not only to victims of abuse but to every practicing Catholic for the betrayal that permeated throughout the Institutional Church."
The posters spoke about Pope John Paul and his level of charisma and how the Irish had doted on him back in 1979. They also commented on Pope Benedicts lesser amount of charisma and how he must now deal with the scandal which had been allowed to fester in the Church over the last 30 years.
One comment read "He must, however, carry a broom and sweep out those among his own who have betrayed the Faithful. It's very hard to profess ones Catholicism nowadays."
Another said "No, I wouldn't welcome it; unless it was a visit to apologize profusely for the child sex abuse scandals and personally dismiss a few bishops. If he wants to make a visit to gather platitudes from the "faithful Irish" he can stay in Rome."
They also cited the financial burden of organizing such a visit as a reason. They commented on the cost of improving the infrastructure which would be needed if the Pope visited.
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