September 5, 2018

On Sunday, August 26, Pope Francis concluded a weekend apostolic trip to Dublin, Ireland, where he attended the triennial World Meet of Families. Apostolic is another word for papal or having to do with the pope. Throughout the weekend, enthusiastic crowds turned out to welcome the pope, who is popular in traditionally Roman Catholic Ireland.

Pope Francis greets worshippers before delivering a Mass at Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 26, 2018. Credit: © Stephen McCarthy, Getty Images

The World Meeting of Families brings together Catholics to celebrate the roles of marriage and the family “as the cornerstone of our lives, of society, and of the Church.” The first such meeting was hosted by Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1994. The meetings have since taken place every three years, and each has included the sitting pope. Pope Francis attended his first World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015. This year’s event in Dublin was themed “The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World.”

On Saturday, August 25, Francis flew to Dublin, the Irish capital, and met with President Michael Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin, the official presidential residence. The pope then met with dignitaries at Dublin Castle, visited St. Mary’s Church, spoke with the poor at the Day Centre of the Capuchin Fathers, and delivered a speech for the Festival of Families at Croke Park Stadium.

On Sunday morning, Francis flew to the small town of Knock in northwest Ireland. He visited the Knock Shrine where, in 1879, some children claimed to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary. Knock has been a place of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics ever since. The pope returned to Dublin, then, where he delivered a Mass before some 200,000 people—far fewer than expected—at Phoenix Park. He then met with bishops at the Convent of the Dominican Sisters before boarding a plane and returning to the Vatican in Rome. 

Francis is from Argentina and has been leader of the church since 2013. He is the first pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit pope. Jesuits are members of a religious order called the Society of Jesus. Francis is known for his commitment to social justice, especially for the poor; his humble lifestyle; and his conservative religious beliefs. Francis visited Chile and Peru in January 2018, and he stopped briefly in Switzerland in June. He will visit the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia later in September. The only other papal visit to Ireland was made by John Paul II in 1979.

March 24, 2016

Dubliners gather amidst the ruins of Lower Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) after the Easter Rising in 1916. Nearly all the buildings on this street were damaged or destroyed by fire during the rebellion. Credit: National Library of Ireland

This Easter weekend, events in Dublin, Ireland, will mark the 100^th anniversary of the Easter Rising, a 1916 rebellion in which Irish rebels fought against British rule. The rebellion began on Easter Monday that year, and lasted less than a week. The events of that week had lasting effects, however, leading to further rebellion, civil war, and, eventually, independence for Ireland’s 26 southern counties.

On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, roughly 1,000 Irish rebels took control of several important Dublin locations. Such locations included the General Post Office, which became the rebels’ headquarters. At 12:45 p.m., poet Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic on the post office steps. The proclamation was an attempt to declare Ireland independent.

British troops responded quickly, and they worked to isolate bands of Irish rebels. Battles raged on the city streets. The Irish held out for several days, but they were outgunned and outnumbered. On Saturday, April 29, the rebel leaders surrendered, ending the Easter Rising. Nearly 500 people died in the fighting. Many of them were civilians caught in the crossfire. Sixteen of the leaders, including Pearse, were executed. Another leader, Eamonn de Valera, was sentenced to death, but the government later released him. De Valera later became prime minister and then president of Ireland.

Irish nationalism intensified in the years following the Easter Rising. The Irish fought the British in a war of independence from 1919 to 1921. Under a 1921 treaty, the 26 counties of southern Ireland became a dominion (self-governing country) of the British Commonwealth. The dominion was called the Irish Free State. Ireland eventually broke all political ties with the United Kingdom, becoming the Republic of Ireland in 1949.

This weekend’s events in Dublin, chosen to fall on Easter weekend in 2016 and not the April date of 1916, include a memorial ceremony in the Garden of Remembrance, a state event for relatives of those who took part in the rising, a military ceremony, and a parade along O’Connell Street. The official opening of the Easter Rising Centenary Visitor Facility at the General Post Office—the center of the 1916 rebel effort—will also take place.

Other World Book articles

• Ireland, History of
• W. B. Yeats, “Easter 1916″