Church scandals, rapid secularization colour 1st papal visit to Ireland in nearly 40 years

To be fair, fall classeshadn't yet begun at St. Patrick's College inMaynooth, home to Ireland's national seminary the very last Catholic seminary on the Emerald Isle.

And itdidn't help that the grey slate walls of the college about an hour outside of Dublin were matched by the grey skies abovethat would crack open to let loose a fresh spattering of rain.

But it did add to the sense of a grand but somehow hollow place; that whatever magic that might once have lived here isslipping away through arched corridors, no matter how carefully preserved.

In the1960s, there were 600 students in formation for the priesthood.Today, there are just 25.

It is into this moment of profound decline for the Catholic Church in Irelandthat Pope Francis arrivesin a bid to shore up faith in a church repeatedly discredited by scandal.

"There are 450 stalls in the college chapel," said Father TomasSurlis, the recently appointed rector of the seminary, with a wistful smile.

"Are we going to fill those again?Not in my lifetime, I don't think."

Surlisdoesn't deny the seminary could be forced to actually close its doors if things don't change.

"Yeah, absolutely.You know, there's no point in pussyfooting around that question. Of course, it's a real issue," he said.

"We can't deny that the process ofsecularization, for example, in Ireland and in Western Europe, has been rapid and it has been significant."

Changing times

Pope John Paul II visited theMaynoothseminary back in 1979, when he became the first pope to come to Ireland on an official visit.

He was greeted by a full throng of seminary students standing in those carved wooden stalls, clapping their hands and singingHe's Got the Whole World In His Hands.

So anticipated was the Polish pope's arrival that the cockpit recording of the pilots was broadcast to the country live as they landed his plane.

Ireland had joined the European Union just a few years earlier, paving the way toward more rapid economic development, the Celtic Tiger on the horizon.

"We were on the cusp of leaving the past behind,"Surlissaid. "And [Pope John Paul II] talked to us about remembering our past. And not letting go of our faith."

Pope Francis's visit to Ireland this weekend, nearly 40 years later, is a very different affair. Church attendance was around70 per centwhen Pope John Paul II was here. Today, it's estimated at around 30 per cent.

But about 500,000 peopleare expected to attend a final papal mass in Dublin's Phoenix Parkon Sunday.

That gives some comfort to 24-year old seminary student John Gerard Acton.

"When people say, 'Oh, your faith has gone,' or 'Catholic Ireland is gone' like for [so many] to sign up for an event, it gives me great confidence. It encourages me greatly."

But he does acknowledge there is less room in Ireland for the church, and there will be "much less clergy in the years to come."

In recent years, Ireland's move away from Vatican directives has been profound, with two referendums delivering decisions to legalizesame-sex marriageand to roll back a ban onabortions.

But it is the bitterness and anger left by the church's many scandals from child sex abuse to the treatment of unmarried pregnant women and children raised in church-run workhouses that is ultimately colouring the visit of Pope Francis for many people here.

"All those poor little kids who were abused, we don't know the half of it," said JoanMcAdamat a day centre for seniors attached to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in downtown Dublin.

The church was rather famously missed during John Paul II's visit when he reportedly ran out of time on his schedule and simply drove by in thepopemobilewithout stopping.

McAdamsays Pope Francis needs to say to abuse survivors, once and for all: "I'm sorry for my church and I promise I will root it out, and yes, I will deal with them."

The Pope will reportedly meet in private with some survivors, but the Vatican is not saying at what point in his two-day schedule that will happen.

Abuse survivor ColmO'Gormanwill lead a remembrance vigilon Sundayas a counter to the papal mass.

He says apologies and acknowledgement of church failings continue to avoid genuine accountability. The most recent being a2,000 word letterexpressing "sorrow and shame" over "atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons,"aftera grand jury report in Pennsylvania revealed hundreds of priestshad molested more than 1,000 children in the state since the1940s.

"This is about a systemic, wilful, deliberate process of coverup by intent, by purpose, by design, that was implemented and driven by the Vatican for many decades, underpinned by church law and church norms,"O'Gormansaid.

"Francisdoesn't need to come to Ireland to make the institution of the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican in particular accountable.He just needs to do it.He could have done it within moments of becoming Pope."