Limerick woman expresses ‘anger and betrayal’ felt at Pope Francis’ visit

A LIMERICK author and playwright, who protested in Tuam during Pope Francis’ visit, expressed dissatisfaction with the pontiff’s final address at Phoenix Park at the weekend.

Mary Coll, former director of the Belltable Arts Centre, attended a solidarity demonstration at the graves of the 796 babies at the mother and baby home in Tuam, on Sunday.

This occurred on the day the pope delivered his penitential speech, seeking forgiveness for the members of the Church who had committed abuse.  

“Forgiveness is a very emotional word. The pope asks for forgiveness, but what the pope didn’t say is, I make you a promise here that I will deliver justice for every priest, or member of the religious orders, who is guilty of harm. That wasn’t said. It wasn’t said because it’s all about the money,” she told the Limerick Leader this week.

Mary Coll was born in a mother and baby home in Westmeath in 1962. 

Ms Coll, who attended the demonstration with her daughter and two friends, said she was not protesting the visit of Pope Francis.

“I wanted to take part in something that marked a solidarity with people who have experienced the darker side of the Church. And in that, I would include all victims of clerical sex abuse, industrial schools, Magdalene Laundries, mother and baby homes, all of that,” she explained. 

She said there was a different feeling at this year’s visit, in comparison to the famous 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II.

“There’s a totally different emotion; it’s an emotion of anger and betrayal in its repeated failure to deal in a responsible way with the abuse issues. The Church has destroyed itself from the inside out,” she said. 

The demonstration was led by Catherine Corless, who was responsible with exposing the Tuam mother and baby home scandal.