Call for Pope trip
NZPA-Reuter Belfast More than 60,000 Protestants have signed a petition urging the Pope to visit British-ruled Northern Ireland next month during his three-day trip to the Irish Republic. A Belfast City Councillor, Mr Bill Jeffrey, organiser of a campaign to have Pope John Paul invited by the British Government, said the petition would be sent to the Queen. The organisers had, however, hoped to get 170,000 signatures to equal the number Of votes culled by the Protestant hard-line leader, the Rev. lan Paisley, in this year’s election to the European Parliament. Mr Paisley is leading a campaign against a visit, and claims to speak for Northern Ireland’s one million Protestant majority.
The Vatican has said — and a British spokesman yesterday reiterated — that no trip to the North was contemplated. Nevertheless, the issue is still very much alive in Ireland. Some Irish Roman Catholic bishops are hoping the Pope will still visit the North, if only on a fleeting helicopter trip.
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Press, 23 August 1979, Page 6
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164Call for Pope trip Press, 23 August 1979, Page 6
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