Archbishop Eamon Martin has said Ireland is “in some ways lost” and in need of a renewed spiritual conversation, expressing hope that Pope Leo XIV could visit Ireland as part of a wider effort to re-energise the Church during a period of reflection and transition.
Speaking exclusively to this paper about the Catholic Church’s place in contemporary Ireland, the Archbishop of Armagh acknowledged a sharp decline in the Church’s credibility and influence, but said this moment could also offer an opportunity for renewal.
“But we’re also in an Ireland which is in some ways lost and we’re trying to re-enliven the soul of Ireland, re-animate the soul of Ireland and that means a lot of reflection. And it means some people who basically believe the church has zero or very little credibility or influence any longer, in some ways that’s maybe okay as a place to be while we have this conversation because this will grow.”
Archbishop Martin said the Church is nearing the end of a long historical chapter that began with Catholic emancipation and shaped Irish life for more than a century.
“So if you think of Ireland you know we have this journey and I think the Catholic Emancipation thing is a really necessary moment where it enables us to look back at the beginning of a chapter in the history of the church which I think is coming to an end in Ireland. You had the Emancipation after the famine; the burgeoning of the building of churches, parishes, formation, schools, the invitation to religious congregations, the whole social engagement of the church on the ground with the poor, with people’s addictions, with schooling/education, then the missionary movements emerging very quickly out of that, this huge burgeoning and explosion of devotions, the Sacred Heart devotions, the Legion of Mary and all building up and then maybe reaching a peak in and around the 1950s and then we’ve had the slow but gradual decline.”
He said that chapter is now drawing to a close, with the Church seeking to “turn the page” through the synodal process and a series of major jubilees planned for the coming years.
“I think we’ve got a great moment with…the fruits please God of the synodal journey beginning to emerge in the latter years of this decade leading up to hopefully a kind of a triduum, a three-year celebration of the coming of Christianity, and the celebration of the Jubilee Year of Redemption and in the middle of all that hopefully Pope Leo.”
Archbishop Martin outlined how the sequence of anniversaries could act as focal points for national and ecclesial reflection, beginning with the Jubilee Year 2025 and extending into the early 2030s.
He confirmed that he hopes these milestones could include a visit by Pope Leo XIV, saying he is encouraging fellow bishops to consider issuing a formal invitation, while recognising that any papal visit would be more modest than those of the past.
“I think it would be beautiful and I’m trying to swing the bishops to come around to thinking that we should issue an invitation, but when we have a sense of that direction but there are very significant moments there. But it’s going to be smaller, we saw that when Pope Francis came, we’re in a very different Ireland.”