Secularisation of Irish society isn’t immune to the shadow of the past

The fortunes of the Irish Catholic Church have changed dramatically over the past four decades. Mary Kenny's new book focuses on the links between faith and fatherland and their role in shaping the Irish State

Pope Francis and then taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Dublin Castle during the Pope’s visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families in 2018. Mr Varadkar said that the Catholic Church ‘filled that gap to the benefit of many generations of our people’. Picture: Maxwells

IN THE grand sweep of history, four decades is not a long time. This (or 39 years to be precise) is the time gap that separates the two papal visits to Ireland — John Paul II in 1979 and Francis in 2018.

Yet, in that relatively short period, the fortunes of the Irish Catholic Church changed dramatically.