Pope Leo XIV has described how he was physically attacked because he was a priest while on a visit to Ireland. He was twice here when he was the head of the Augustinian order worldwide, once in 2005 and again in 2007.

He recounted the incident at a conference in Peru in 2019, when he was a bishop there and a video of his comments has just resurfaced online.

In his comments, he says: “Never in my life, anywhere in the world, have I been physically attacked as I was in Ireland, just for this [pointing to his clerical collar], for just going out on the street.

“A man passes by, he looks at me [and says] ‘you’re a priest’ – and he starts attacking me. Fortunately, another Augustinian, who is twice as big as me, came to defend me.”

He added: “I don’t know if he was a victim or had lost faith in the church, I have no idea what happened to him. But I truly believe it is a very important factor in the experience here in the church as well.”

A recent Amarach opinion poll, commissioned by The Iona Institute, reveals that Irish people overestimate the number of Catholic clergy guilty of child abuse by around four to one, and in addition, a quarter of people would like if the Church disappeared from Ireland completely.

The poll also found that a third of people have a favourable view of priests, a third have an unfavourable view, with the rest in between.