Free Republic

Irish Catholics appear set to snub Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Britain with fewer than 1,000 of them expected to make the pilgrimage. Some 88% of the island's population is Catholic, but the Pope is not visiting Ireland. Churchgoers from north and south of the Irish border have been invited to attend a papal mass in Britain, but only a third of the 2,500 tickets allocated to them have been sold. "It will take much more than a papal visit to restore the credibility of the church in Ireland," said Patsy McGarry, the Irish Times' religious affairs correspondent. "The institution...