Light of hope

Pic: Michael McLaughlin

Áine Ryan

IT will be a lifelong memory for the two small children who were privileged to give Pope Francis a taper for the lighting of the Papal candle in the atmospheric Apparition Chapel at Knock Shrine. His tenderness towards our youngest citizens, as well as the most marginalised in our society, defined his historic visit.
The open innocence of Molly Hunt and SeΡn Burke from Knock – who had participated in an apparition-witness ceremony earlier – expresses all the ideals of love espoused by the Catholic Church. The intimacy evoked in the picture above captures one of the tender Papal-visit moments that Catholic congregations all over the country will undoubtedly cherish as they assess the impact of his words on the Church.
Calls have been made for the Church to embrace and act upon the positive elements of the Pope’s repeated acknowledgements and responses to the stark truths told by survivors of clerical abuse.