Diocese of Limerick to mark opening ceremony of Pope's visit

THE LIMERICK Diocese have plans in place to celebrate Pope Francis’ arrival with an opening ceremony at St John’s Cathedral on the week of His Holiness’ visit.

The papal visit will take place at Knock and Dublin from August 21 to August 27, attracting hundreds of thousands of people from every corner of the Earth.

And to mark the opening day of the triennial event, an opening ceremony will take place at St John’s Cathedral on Tuesday, August 21.

A number of roads will be closed as a result of the major ceremony in the city centre, including John’s Square from its junction at New Road, Pennywell, to its junction with Church Street; Brennan’s Row, also known as Canter’s Row; and Lower Gerald Griffin Street.

Temporary Road Closure at John’s Square, Lower Gerald Griffin Street to its junction with James Street & Barrack Lane #Limerick from 12pm to 7.30pm on Tuesday 21st August 2018 for the World Meeting of Families Event hosted by The Dioceses of Limerick https://t.co/lybaYWyLWn

— Limerick Council (@LimerickCouncil) July 26, 2018

These roads will be closed from 12pm to 7.30pm on August 21, and will be accessible to emergency services vehicles. Traffic diversions will be in place.

People will can make submissions or objections to Limerick City and County Council by 4pm on August 1.

All 45,000 tickets for the Knock Shrine event and all 500,000 tickets for the Phoenix Park celebration have been booked.

Bishop Leahy said that he confidently predicts that the Limerick flag will be waved visibly at the historic celebration in Knock and Dublin based on widespread interest so far.

The Limerick Diocese is seeing arrangements being put in place for people to go to Dublin and to knock with parishes booking buses for both journeys.

Because the events are free, people are advised that if they are asked to pay for a ticket, they are urged to contact An Garda Siochana. For more information, visit www.worldmeeting2018.ie.