FRANCE/ THE VATICAN: Pope John Paul II's eagerly anticipated second pastoral visit to Ireland now seems likely to be scheduled for next spring at the earliest. Paddy Agnew reports from Lourdes
Senior Vatican figures in the Pope's entourage for his visit to Lourdes at the weekend confirmed that Ireland remains a probable destination for the Pope but indicated that the visit is unlikely to happen before next spring.
Given the 84-year-old Pope's all too obviously frail health, his travel schedule now tends to be limited to three or four short visits per year.
His two-day stay in Lourdes was his second overseas visit this year following another two-day stay in Switzerland in early June.
Next month the Pope is scheduled to tavel to the Marian shrine of Loreto in Italy, while he may yet accept an invitation to join the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, in Istanbul to celebrate St Andrew's day on November 30th.
If the Pope fulfils both those engagements, then there can be no question of a trip to Ireland this autumn.
Asked if the Pope would be accepting the invitations for forthcoming visits to both Turkey and Ireland, Bishop Renato Boccardo, the Vatican official who organises papal travel, commented: "I wouldn't exclude anything.
"If he can, the Pope will honour the invitations he has received. At this stage no decision has been taken. The Pope's engagements have not yet been finalised".
Bishop Boccardo's comments tie in with those made by the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Seán Brady, last month when he said that the formal invitation from the Irish Bishops' Conference had been accepted, "in principle" by the Vatican's Secretariat of State.
With the Vatican anxious to avoid travelling to a country where the frail Pope will encounter inclement weather, the trip to Ireland may well be scheduled for May.
As of now, no detailed intinerary has been fixed, but the obvious high point will be a visit to Armagh where the Pope will preside over a Mass in Armagh Cathedral that is likely to be the only major liturgical event of the trip.
The trip to Ireland may well follow the pattern established both this weekend in Lourdes and in Switzerland in June, in that it will be restricted to two days, with just one overnight stay.
As in Lourdes and Switzerland, too, the Pope's schedule will be pared down to just one major liturgical celebration and a minimum of political and diplomatic niceties.
As for the overnight arrangements, he could well stay in the Papal Nunciature in Dublin. However, Bishop Boccardo pointed out this weekend that every aspect of papal travel preparation must now take into account that the Pope is wheelchair-bound, requiring ramp or lift access wherever he goes.
The Vatican's decision to have the Pope stay in the ultra-modern Acceuil Notre Dame in Lourdes last weekend was largely determined, said Bishop Boccardo, by the fact that Acceuil has immediate and easy access via both ramp and lift for wheelchair pilgrims.