Life

Archbishop Eamon Martin: Pope Francis visit to north would be hugely symbolic

As head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin has a lot on his to-do list, including securing a historic visit by Pope Francis to the north. He tells Joanne Sweeney what that would mean to him, how he barely has time to pray these days, and why the child sex abuse scandal is something the Church must never forget

Archbishop Eamon Martin is working behind the scenes to secure a visit to the north by Pope Francis Picture: Hugh Russell
Archbishop Eamon Martin is working behind the scenes to secure a visit to the north by Pope Francis Picture: Hugh Russell Archbishop Eamon Martin is working behind the scenes to secure a visit to the north by Pope Francis Picture: Hugh Russell

ARCHBISHOP of Armagh Eamon Martin has been engaging in a bit of backroom diplomacy of late in order to secure the visit of Pope Francis to the north next August, after he attends the World Meeting of Families in Dublin.

The 56-year-old primate of all Ireland has been putting out some feelers at home with his fellow church leaders, as well as exercising some gentle persuasion with the Vatican, to ensure that the pontiff crosses the border, the first time any pope would have done so.

"Pope Francis hasn’t said yes but he hasn’t said no, so we are continuing to encourage him," Archbishop Martin told me during our interview at Ara Coel, his diocesan home behind the beautiful St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh city.

"I'm continuing to send the message that I think that it would be a very significant moment for Northern Ireland.

"And to have a member of the Royal Family, the queen maybe, or Prince Charles, or someone like that to come to Northern Ireland would be a hugely symbolic and significant message. It would be a real affirmation of all we have been trying to do here as we are struggling at the moment with the whole peace thing, even though we are held up as a beacon for reconciliation all around the world.

"I've also been speaking to my fellow church leaders at home. I think they would be open and they have certainly given me that sense that they would welcome it, as far as it would be appropriate for them to do so.

"So I remain hopeful. But Pope Francis is 80 now, and at the moment his schedule is only being worked out several months in advance."

Archbishop Martin recently joined with other senior clerics from the main Protestant faiths to jointly lay wreaths in commemoration of the thousands of soldiers from north and south who fought and died together at the Battle of Messines in Belgium, in the First World War.

It would be a major achievement and honour for him for Pope Francis to visit the north, as well as a personal highlight. It would complete a circle for the Derry man, who can vividly remember his own experience of seeing Pope John Paul II at the celebration of Mass at Drogheda in September 1979 – an event that proved pivotal in cementing his growing religious calling as a teenager.

Unlike his fellow classmates from St Columb's College in his native city, he did not go to the youth Mass in Galway during John Paul II's Irish visit but travelled down to Drogheda with a brother and sister – he's the eighth child out of a family 12, six brothers and six sisters.

“My sister Noirin had just passed her driving test, so between the nervousness of going to see the Pope, then Noirin driving and us saying the Rosary on the way down, it was quite a trip,” he recalled.

“I remember being quite taken by Pope John Paul. He had such real charisma. The following week at school the teacher was played a tape of the Pope in Galway and I do remember him saying distinctly ‘Something else is needed’.

“It was September in my upper sixth year and I was filling in university application forms. After Christmas, I told the priest I was interested in the priesthood and then went to a vocations weekend in Benburb.”

Raised in a strongly Catholic family from the Pennyburn area of Derry – his mother Katie and many of his siblings and closest friends still live there – Dr Martin said his calling was still “a bit of a mystery”.

“I have no idea really; I don’t think I was extra special to my other brothers or sisters. It was just the way it happened. I first had a sense of calling to the priesthood in my senior years. At no point before that can I recall saying that I wanted to be a priest but I would always have had a sense of the importance of faith and my prayer," the archbishop, who had served as an altar boy, said.

"There was morning mass in the school and I would say that's probably were my vocation was nurtured.”

Ordained in 1987 at the age of 25 at St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry, Dr Martin enjoyed a steady climb up the ranks in the Church.

A relative but welcome ‘blow-in’ to Armagh, having become archbishop in 2014 after his predecessor Cardinal Sean Brady retired, he had spent the majority of his life until then, living and working in Derry, mostly as a maths teacher at his old school.

An easy and genial conversationalist, he is keen to foster good relations with the media, perhaps due to the example and leadership of his mentor, the late and charismatic Bishop Edward Daly.

Acutely aware that the Catholic Church is still recovering from the scandal from various child sex abuse and institutional abuse carried out by some priests and nuns, he said: “I think that the child abuse scandals was one of the most difficult things for me, and for priests generally, and for people of faith, to come to terms with.

“To think that priests, with the beautiful position of trust with families and young people, to think that they would betray that.”

He trailed off, shaking his head, before adding: "I think that for all of the things that affected my life as a priest which has challenged me was facing up to the reality that priests had abused. And in some cases, priest that I knew, priests that we would have looked up to. It was such a difficult thing to come to terms with.

“But we have to be careful feeling sorry for ourselves in the midst of the child abuse scandals. The real people who were hurt and traumatised where the victims and the survivors. Theirs is a life sentence. Any decline in morale or sadness we might feel is nothing compared to theirs.”

The Catholic Church has since introduced new robust child protection and monitoring policies and procedures – so, I asked him, had it put the scandal behind it?

“I don’t think so,” he replied. “You don’t put something like this behind you. Number one, you keep it with you in order to ensure that you are always on alert, but also it’s now part of our story and our history, whether we like it or not.

“For someone who’s been abused, they don’t put it behind them, so neither should we.”

A music lover and singer, Archbishop Martin said that one of his challenges in the midst of his church leadership role was to find the time in his day for God and for prayer.

“The only time I get to do this is early in the day. I sometimes try in the evening but I tend to find myself falling asleep in front of the Blessed Sacrament,” he laughed.

“It's not exactly the nicest thing to do – like Peter, James and John falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane – but I suppose it’s better than falling asleep in front of the TV.”