The visit of Pope John Paul II was the last hurrah of traditional Irish Catholicism and a prophetic call to reconciliation. On September 29th, 1979, an estimated 1 1/4 million people assembled in the Phoenix Park.

An 82-year-old woman, who walked five miles to the Phoenix Park and five miles home again, told Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich: "I never felt closer to God than when I saw the sacred host raised by Pope John Paul in the park."

An astonishing 2,790,000 people went to see the Pope during the three days of his Irish visit. It took place in the halcyon days of his pontificate, before the rise of a new conservatism in the Vatican. The bishops said in a pastoral letter afterwards: "Ireland for those unforgettable days was like a nation on pilgrimage, a whole pilgrim, praying people, on the march." The Irish Times, under the editorship of Douglas Gageby, was scarcely less enthusiastic: "It must move any Irish man or woman with the minutest historical sense to see, for the first time in 2,000 years, a Pope walk the soil of Ireland. John Paul tapped deep roots for all those on this island who believe in the one way of life."

Cardinal O Fiaich remained convinced to the end of his days that the Pope would have included the North in his itinerary but for the murder of Lord Mountbatten and 15 British paratroopers on the same day in August 1979. Drogheda was chosen as an alternative site for his encounter with Northern Catholics.

Dr Cahal Daly, who was then bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, worked with a team from the Vatican Secretariat on John Paul's Irish addresses. They were briefed about his thoughts and wishes regarding the various themes to be addressed. The Pope studied the preliminary drafts carefully, Cardinal Daly records in his memoirs. Ultimately, Pope John Paul's 22 speeches were his own: "From the first outline to the final text, it is his thinking, his style, his priorities and emphases, which predominate."

Cardinal Daly believes the Pope's Drogheda address marked the beginning of a process of reflection and debate which culminated in the Belfast Agreement.

Rehearsing the issues which he would discuss before the UN General Assembly, John Paul said public opinion was growing increasingly conscious of the absurdity of war as a means to resolve differences. "Peace is more and more clearly seen as the only way to justice . . . True peace must be founded upon justice . . . Violence is a crime against humanity."

He confronted those engaged in violence, the security forces, the governments, the prison authorities, the general public. "If politicians do not decide and act for just change, then the field is left open to the men of violence. Violence thrives best when there is a political vacuum and a refusal of political movement." He stressed the primacy of justice and of human rights, the role of deprivation and alienation in creating conditions conducive to violence.

The Pope appealed directly to the IRA: "On my knees I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence . . . Further violence in Ireland will only drag down to ruin the land you claim to love and the values you claim to cherish . . . The true courage lies in working for peace."

Eileen O'Brien reported for The Irish Times: "When he said that the state must not violate human rights in the name of law and order the Andersonstown people did not hide their satisfaction, but the loudest applause of all was when he urged that no Protestant should look on the Pope as an enemy or a threat."

Nevertheless, the Rev Ian Paisley described him as a liar, an impostor and the anti-Christ. At a press conference in Belfast, he said the Pope believed in a united Ireland and his visit was political rather than pastoral.

John Hume, who read one of the scripture passages at Drogheda, said Paisley's comments underlined "the intransigence and unreasonableness that have to be faced in the Northern Ireland problem".

Gerry Adams described the visit as "a most joyful and profound occasion for the majority of the Irish people". He accused the then British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, of hypocrisy in welcoming the Pope's call for an end to violence.

The Irish Times asked if the politicians had it in them to rise to the Drogheda challenge: "Why could not the address of the Pope have been made in similarly humane terms by any minister of this or other governments?"

It reflected a rich understanding of the human condition: "The man from the country of the death camp of Auschwitz and the country of the Katyn forest massacre is even wiser than ourselves in the ways of murder and torture and extermination. We would all do well to listen to him, parliamentary democrats, Provos, Protestant paramilitaries. He has seen slaughter which makes Belfast look like a picnic party. But it's all murder in the end."

The significance of his Drogheda homily was both spiritual and political. While Protestants did not follow the Marian devotion or other doctrinal points, "they have seen the basic Christ-approach in his serious concentration on the question of violence and politics in general.

"John Paul looks through our superficial apparel, be it of paramilitary, public representative, jailer, bureaucrat, government minister, to see the real man - as we all should. So, his appeal to the man with the gun was as valid and understanding and as heartfelt and honest as his appeal to the powerful rulers of the day."

After the enthusiasm which greeted the Pope's appeal for an end to violence, the leading article concluded, there could no longer be any doubt that what the Irish people wanted was peace in this island and between these islands.

Pope John Paul, with his sense of history, also visited Clonmacnois, one of the great monastic centres of Europe for 1,000 years, before its final destruction was ordered by Cromwell. Fresh from his celebration of the millennium of the faith in Poland, he reflected that monks from Clonmacnois might have gone as missionaries to Krakow.

The Pope described his visit to Knock shrine as the goal of his Irish pilgrimage. John Healy wrote from Mayo: "One hundred years ago this year, when Ireland was on its knees, the Virgin appeared here with a silent message. It was the second message of that year from this rural countryside for, down the road a few parishes away, Michael Davitt gave tongue to the Land League."

Declaring that Christ was the lord of history, John Paul said the Irish people had kept the faith down the centuries, through persecution and poverty, in famine and in exile. His last words before leaving from Shannon on October 1st - feastday of one of his favourite saints, Therese of Lisieux - were: "Ireland: semper fidelis. Moladh go deo le Dia."