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Papal Cross

Dirk Hudson/Shutterstock

26th August 2018 Dublin. Papal visit to Ireland. Image taken at Pope Francis's mass in Phoenix Park, Dublin, to hundreds of thousands in attendance.

In the centre of Phoenix Park, the Papal Cross marks the site where Pope John Paul II preached to 1.25 million people in 1979. Pope Francis celebrated mass here on the last day of his visit to Ireland in 2018: the attendance was around 130,000, a telling reflection of the changing role of the Catholic Church in Irish society.

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