Power surge in retrospect

As strong as the Catholic Church may have seemed, one of the reasons for the Pope’s 1979 visit was worry over its decline, writes Diarmaid Ferriter

BY THE early 1970s, the career of one of the towering figures of 20th century Irish Catholicism, Dr John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin since 1940, was coming to a close.

The Vatican accepted his resignation in 1971 after three decades during which he had exercised extraordinary power over many areas, including health, education, industrial relations and social services.