It’s all over bar the shouting. And let thee be no mistake, there is still shouting to be done.
Minister Katherine Zappone, for one, still has plenty to say on why the Church should contribute to the reparation fund for the Tuam baby scandal.
But leave aside the smaller numbers, leave aside the terrible weather and the less than ideal access to the Phoenix Park, there were still an estimated 400,000 people who attended at least one of the events associated with the Pope’s visit last weekend.
And despite the analysis of how secular our society has become, that’s a lot of people who were willing to come out in the cold and wet, walk miles and endure discomfort to see the man they regard as their spiritual leader.
The Pope’s words to these spiritual pilgrims have been reported, analysed and chewed over and none more so than his plea for forgiveness for the sins for which the Church should be held accountable.
The Pontiff and his advisors were criticised for his apparent lack of detailed knowledge of the situation regarding religious abuse scandals in Ireland and to learn that he had not been properly briefed must surely have been another knife in the heart for survivors.
The tragedy is not that there were fewer people interested in greeting this Pope, but the numbers who have left the Catholic Church altogether, heartsick and sore at what has been done by the religious and the hierarchy after the deeds.
These people should not be leaving the Catholic Church.
The people who should be leaving are the paedophile priests, the morally bankrupt bishops and the cover-up cardinals. Let them get out.
Pope Francis used the word “filth’ to describe what has gone on. We can only hope that, like Christ throwing the moneylenders out of the temple, he will scour the Church of that filth.
And when it is gone, let the people who want to live Christ’s message of love – which does not condone abuse, misogyny or homophobia – set about rebuilding the body of the Church.
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