Emer Otoole, Opininoin, London, 7.9.18<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s political leaders are calling protests against Pope Francis\u2019s visit \u2018petty\u2019. Have they forgotten the decades of abuse?<\/em><\/p>\n I<\/span><\/span>n 1979, Pope John Paul II visited the Republic of Ireland, and approximately 2.7 million people<\/a> \u2013 79% of the population \u2013 came out to honour him. At the time, contraception, divorce, and homosexuality were illegal, and John Paul II was a god.<\/p>\n On 25 August, when Pope Francis becomes the first pontiff to travel to Ireland<\/a> in 39 years, he will arrive on the shores of a very different island.<\/p>\n Throughout the 1990s, abuse scandals rocked the Irish Catholic establishment<\/a> and hastened the process of secularisation. Since then, progressive constitutional and legal change has been slow but consistent, signalling rejection of the church\u2019s moral authority. In 1993 homosexuality was decriminalised; in 1995, a referendum to legalise divorce passed by the slimmest of margins<\/a>; in 2015, the country voted overwhelmingly to legalise gay marriage<\/a>; and in June, 66% of the electorate voted to legalise abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n The separation of church and state in Ireland is far from complete. For example, the church is still involved in running 90% of state-funded primary schools<\/a>. It is deeply enmeshed<\/a> in our medical system. We are still wrestling with the scars of decades of abuse, implemented by the church and facilitated by the state. We are still finding children\u2019s bodies<\/a> in unmarked mass graves.<\/p>\n But it is not 1979. And while some are preparing for the pope\u2019s visit by pressing their Sunday best, others are making placards and planning protests.<\/p>\n