Pope to make decision on NI visit

There is speculation the pope may visit Northern Ireland

A decision is expected later this year on whether Pope Benedict will accept an invitation to visit Northern Ireland.

The invitation was issued by Irish Catholic bishops last year.

The Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told Sunday Sequence the Holy Father's international agenda for 2009 would be known before the year's end.

If it goes ahead, it would be the first papal visit to Ireland since Pope John Paul II in 1979. He was unable to travel to NI for security reasons.

Father Lombardi said: "The agenda of the Pope for the next year is not decided.

"He has received many invitations, he takes all invitations with the greatest attention and also with great desire to answer yes. But he knows also very well that the time is limited, and the possibilities of human beings are limited, and he has to make choices.

"I don't know now which will be the choices for the next year.

"I hope that... before the end of the year we will have an idea of the agenda of the international journeys of the Pope."

Last October, a leading clergyman said Pope Benedict XVI may visit Northern Ireland.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said he interpreted the choice of Sean Brady as cardinal as an indication the pontiff wanted to visit Northern Ireland.

He said such a visit would have "the symbolic meaning of ending an era of our history and opening to something new, north and south".

Back in 1979, Catholics from all over Ireland flocked to see Pope John Paul II.

He was the first Pope to visit Ireland and was greeted by vast crowds during a hectic schedule which included Dublin, Drogheda, Galway, Limerick and Knock.

The most enduring memory of that papal visit was his impassioned plea for peace in Northern Ireland.