Pope Leo XIV has described how he was physically attacked because he was a priest [1] 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 [2], 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.