Northern Ireland

Belfast City Council row over Pope Francis invite

A motion to invite Pope Francis to Belfast has been passed at Belfast City Council 
A motion to invite Pope Francis to Belfast has been passed at Belfast City Council  A motion to invite Pope Francis to Belfast has been passed at Belfast City Council 

A MOTION has been passed at Belfast City Council to invite Pope Francis to the city, despite arguments over whether the motion had been proposed – and passed – before.

Alliance Councillor Nuala McAllister proposed the motion, saying that following speculation that the Pope will visit the south for the 2018 World Meeting of Families, it might be a good opportunity to invite the Pontiff to Belfast.

Councillor McAllister said the Pope would be welcomed “by a huge majority of the population, not just the Catholic congregations.”

“Just as the visit of Her Majesty the Queen to Dublin was a ground-breaking event, so a visit from His Holiness Pope Francis would have immense significance,” she said.

SDLP Councillor Nichola Mallon said she was “somewhat bewildered” by what she described as a ‘repetitive motion’ and showed the council a letter sent from the Vatican following a similar motion in April 2014.

Councillor John Hussey of the DUP expressed similar concerns, describing the council’s debate as ‘déjà vu.’

He went on to say that only the Queen could invite Pope Francis to Belfast, as he is the Vatican’s head of state.  

“There’s a very, very clear international convention that a head of state can only be invited to a country by another head of state,” he said.  

He added that it was ‘nonsense’ to send “yet another invitation to the Vatican, that they can’t possibly accept.”

His colleague Alderman Christopher Stalford said that to send two letters to the Vatican ‘asking for the same thing’ would make Belfast City Council “a laughing stock.”

Alderman Stalford also said that he felt the motion had been “tabled for electoral reasons” and that “someone hopes to peel off conservative Catholic voters to vote for the Alliance party.”

Responding to these comments, Alliance Councillor Mervyn Jones insited that the motion was not the same and said that attempts to ‘derail’ the motion were disgraceful.

Following a show of hands, the council voted in favour of inviting the Pope to Belfast.

38 members of the council voted for the motion.

Only TUV Councillor Jolene Bunting voted against inviting the Pope to Belfast, while the DUP and PUP abstained.