Pope Francis is a remarkably popular religious leader. A term has even been coined to describe his presumed positive impact on Catholicism worldwide: “The Francis Effect”. On 25 and 26 August 2018, Francis visited Ireland as part of the World Meeting of Families. But as his visit approached, the national conversation became dominated by the issue of abuse – so much so that the visit seemed to have become an unofficial referendum on the papal response to abuse.
The following report outlines the results of a survey conducted a few weeks after the papal visit which revealed that only 30 percent of Irish people thought Francis had done enough to address abuse during his visit.
The survey was designed by Dr Gladys Ganiel from the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast.
To read more and to view the survey report please click here.
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