With pilgrims outstripping protesters, Benedict pulled off mission impossible.He buried his 'Nazi Pope' image.
He showed that large swathes of Britain do not belong to 'Dawkinsland.'
AN immediate question arising from Pope Benedict XVI's surprise successes in England and Scotland is directly related to Ireland and the public level of support still held by the crisis-mired Irish Catholic Church.
If Pope Benedict visits this country in summer 2012 -- a short 21 months away -- will he similarly woo Irish Catholics alienated from Rome's cover-ups of clerical child abuse scandals?
If Benedict accepts the invitation of the Irish bishops to attend the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, will Croke Park be the scene of joyous welcome accorded to him in Edinburgh's Palace of Holyroood House, Glasgow's Bellahouston Park, London's Hyde Park and Birmingham's Crofton Park?
Before the German Pontiff's first state visit to Britain, the answer to the question of what kind of Irish reception he would have received would have been stunningly negative.
Unprecedented anti-Vatican anger erupted when the Murphy Report into abuse cover-ups in the Dublin Archdiocese highlighted the refusal of the papal nuncio and the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to co-operate with its inquiries.
Now, the two leaders of the Irish church, Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, must feel encouraged that Benedict could pull off in Armagh and Dublin the triumph which the Pontiff achieved in "godless" England and "pagan" Scotland.
In four gruelling days, 83-year-old Benedict shredded his 'God's Rottweiler' reputation and unveiled 'The Wunderbar Pope'.
His five-year-old papacy moved from under the shadow of his more charismatic predecessor, the late John Paul II.
Papa Benedetto has become his own man, 'a holy grandad' with an enthused youth following.
Furthermore, he showed his determination to get to grips with the paedophile clergy crisis which has escalated into the biggest challenge facing the 1.2 billion-strong Roman Church since the 16th-century Reformation.
In recent months, it threatened to undermine his own authority on account of his own role in dealing with complaints as 'the Doctrinal Enforcer' and his insufficient action to date.
His pre-visit admission of Rome's lack of vigilance in not reacting sooner and his heartfelt expression of "shame" on Saturday during Mass in Westminster Cathedral were accompanied by his private meeting in Wimbledon at the papal nunciature with five abuse victims, four women and a man.
However, these attempts to address "the unspeakable crimes" still fall short of what victims' protesters called for in the streets of London on Saturday, namely, that the Vatican should apologise for its cover-ups, publish the names of all clerical offenders and hand over the files to the police and civil authorities.
On a positive side, it emerged that, for the first time, the Pope met a group of child-protection experts.
One of them, Bill Kilgallon, from the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission in the UK, revealed yesterday that the Pope discussed with them a new model of care, with checks at every level -- parish, diocese and national -- and closer co-operation with police and social services.
That the paedophile controversies did not dominate, or strangulate, the four-day visit was due to the Pope's 'Battle of Britain' personal crusade to combat the increasing marginalisation of religion from the public market place.
His engagement with 'aggressive secularism' found a precedent a decade ago in a rousing address delivered by the late Austrian cardinal, Franz Konig, on 'The Pull of God in a Godless Age'.
Konig's title aptly sums up Benedict's pluckily persistent firing of a long-range rifle at the intolerant "moral relativists", such as Richard Dawkins, using ineffectual crossbows and bludgeons from the era of the Inquisition.
With pilgrims outstripping protesters, Benedict pulled off mission impossible. He buried his 'Nazi Pope' image.
He showed that large swathes of de-Christianised Britain do not belong to 'Dawkinsland' and want to hear the message of Jesus Christ.
His call for Catholics publicly to testify their faith dove-tailed with his rapport with Anglicans and leaders of other religious faiths, though his overture to Anglican priests disaffected by the ordination of women could usher 'a Newman Third Spring' towards Rome.
Benedict's beatification of Cardinal Newman proclaimed him a loyal son of Rome, making no mention of the Victorian scholar's famous speech saying he would drink to the Pope but only after toasting conscience.
Benedict neutered the Newman who pioneered the Second Vatican Council's teaching on the Church as "the People of God" and of collegial partnership between the Pope and the world's bishops.
The mystique surrounding the office of pope as sovereign monarch enabled the Holy Father to distil his conservative brand of Catholicism, through worship combining English and diverse languages in a multi-cultural society, with restored segments of Latin in the Mass and music, the reintroduction of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and the return of Benediction.
It remains to see how 'the Benedict bounce' affects the England of David Cameron and the Scotland of Alex Salmond -- and whether that bounce leaps the Irish Sea.
Cameron's pledge to give serious attention to Benedict's call for more religious discourse is a reminder that since becoming Taoiseach, Brian Cowen has not held a meeting in Dublin Castle of the Government's Forum with the Christian churches and other religious faiths.
SIC: II/IE