Mixed emotions in Ireland ahead of first papal visit in 39 years
t has been four decades since a Pope last visited Ireland, and what was once the world's most Catholic country has undergone a huge transformation in that time.
Ireland has gone from a place where homosexuality, contraception and divorce were illegal to become the first country in the world to allow same-sex marriage by popular vote after a 2015 referendum.
Then in May this year, two-thirds of the voting population chose to repeal the ban on abortion — another signal the church's once vice-like grip on the nation had significantly loosened.
More than a million people turned out in Dublin's Phoenix Park for Pope John Paul II's visit to the Emerald Isle in 1979, but for Pope Francis's visit on Sunday organisers are expecting a crowd of 500,000 — still a massive number of people....