The Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, gives a personal insight into the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland 25 years ago.
'Your Holiness, members of the Papal entourage, ladies and gentlemen, please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts in preparation for landing at Dublin Airport." These words, spoken on the jumbo jet, St Patrick, on Saturday, September 29th, 1979, sent an emotional ripple up my spine as I watched the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, turn away from the window to return to his seat.
He had been watching with admiration, and blessing with enthusiasm, the vast concourse of people gathered below us in the Phoenix Park. As he turned back to go to his seat I said to him: "Holy Father, welcome to my country, welcome to Ireland". His Holiness looked at me and with deep emotion in his voice said: "I thank God for enabling me to fulfil a long-held desire to visit Ireland".
As we stepped out of the aircraft at Dublin Airport into a sunny but windy day, and the Holy Father went on his knees to kiss the land of Ireland, there began what later became known as "The Alleluia Weekend of Ireland". That weekend unfolded as those short few days opened the heart of the Irish nation to welcome the Vicar of Christ and he gave his all in every encounter in every celebration, in every speech and homily.
From his Eucharist celebration in the Phoenix Park with more than 1.25 million people, where the theme was "It's the Mass that matters", he went to Drogheda, where on bended knees he appealed to those engaged in violence: "I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace".
The encounter in Drogheda left a great impression on the Holy Father and has remained in his memory ever since. Recently I had the privilege of being invited to his table in the Vatican and he reminisced with me on the many papal visits we had made together. Then he said, rightly, that for me the most memorable visit would have been that to Ireland.
Suddenly he asked: "What did they do with the Drogheda cross?" I was astonished. In the intervening years, the Holy Father has travelled around the world several times and has completed more than 100 pastoral visits abroad, and yet he remembered Drogheda and its cross.
I recalled that on the occasion of his visit to the venue, north of Drogheda, on his first day in Ireland, the Holy Father took time to look at the large Celtic cross that had been erected above the podium and he said to me: "I wonder what will they do with this cross?"
Some 22 years later he asked me that very question again. I told him that it had been erected on the side of the main road from Dublin to Belfast and I said that he would be most welcome to return and pay a visit to it. He replied immediately: "I would dearly wish to, but on one condition; that I would continue on the road to Belfast".
THAT FIRST DAY of his visit was so packed that, some years later, the Holy Father said to me: "You know, they tried to kill me in Ireland". I was puzzled but he put my mind at ease by explaining that the programme for the first day was impossible. His schedule was running two hours behind and he still had to meet the media. As he entered a packed hall full of print and broadcast media representatives, he was about to explain the delay but didn't get the chance - he was greeted instantly by the whole hall breaking into song: "For he's a jolly good fellow". That is a memory he carries with him and it always provokes a smile.
The visit to Clonmacnoise was one the Holy Father truly looked forward to. He wanted to render thanks, in person, for the 1,000 years during which Irish monks kept the faith in Jesus Christ alive in Europe, and travelled as far as Kiev in his homeland of Poland to establish a seminary.
After this it was on to Galway for the celebration with teenagers and young adults, an occasion still etched in the memory not only of the Pope but of all who witnessed the enthusiastic response of the youth to the Holy Father's words: "Young people of Ireland, I love you! Young people of Ireland, I bless you!"
I stood by his side and witnessed with him the spontaneous outburst of youthful enthusiasm. The response of the young Irish to his now oft-quoted words clearly made a lasting impression on him, as years later His Holiness said to me: "The most memorable encounter with youth I had was in Galway".
It was the centenary year of the Marian apparitions in Knock. With these words: "Here I am at the goal of my journey to Ireland: the Shrine of Our Lady at Knock," the Holy Father began his pilgrimage to the national Marian shrine. This was the culmination of his pastoral visit to the people of Ireland, under the mantle of Mary.
On that occasion, I remember that His Holiness, as he finished his homily, asked me to write out for him an appropriate formula with which, at the end of the Mass, he could declare the new Church of Our Lady of Ireland a basilica. At that stage the formal process for such a declaration to be made had not been completed in Rome. However, he decided on that day - Sunday, September 30th, 1979 - that henceforth the beautiful church would be known as a basilica. How happy I was to comply!
On the final day of his visit, the good weather which had accompanied us so far now gave way to a fog-bound Dublin and there was fear that the Maynooth visit would not take place en route to Limerick. However the Holy Father decided that Maynooth was certainly to be visited and, having delivered his speech to all the priests, missionaries, religious and seminarians of Ireland - at a speed which astonished me - he then asked the crowd: "How many mistakes did the Pope make in his speech?!"
His sense of humour, blending so well with the sense of the moment, endeared him to all who heard him, with his deep resonant voice, and those who witnessed the depth of his faith and commitment could not but say: "Christ has walked in our midst today".
Limerick racecourse was the venue for the last great encounter with the people of Ireland, when the Holy Father spoke to families on the sanctity of marriage and the sacredness of human life. I remember well the pressure on us to get the Pope to Shannon on time for his onward journey to America. But His Holiness seemed almost reluctant to go. He had come to know the people of Ireland and in a sense he was going to leave part of his heart with them.
During the first week of his pontificate the Holy Father had confided in me that he wished, in his first year, to make three visits - to Mexico, to Poland and to Ireland. He wished to say to each of these peoples: "Semper fidelis" - always faithful - a title that he said each of these nations merited for their long-standing fidelity to the Eucharist, to the Mother of God and to the Person of the Vicar of Christ.
Each of these nations had, through centuries of persecution, remained faithful and so the last words of the Vicar of Christ on Irish soil were: "Ireland, semper fidelis" - always faithful. His trip to Ireland 25 years ago next week was the third pastoral visit of the Pope outside Italy. The first two visits were to Mexico and to Poland.
Our celebration of his visit to Ireland gives us the opportunity to call to mind and heart, in a spirit of gratitude, the richness of his teaching, the enthusiasm of his encounters and the example of his life, a life dedicated to the service of God's people.
As I look back on that "Alleluia Weekend" in 1979, I thank God for the great privilege I had of accompanying the Vicar of Christ to my country and I pray for the possibility of a return visit. Today we should embrace the lasting legacy of his pilgrimage to Ireland: a call to fidelity, a call to peace, a call to love in Christ. Moladh go deo le Dia!
Dr John Magee was private secretary to Pope John Paul II at the time of the Papal visit to Ireland