Knock Shrine had over one million pilgrims in 2023
US President Joe Biden is pictured with Fr Richard Gibbons during his historic visit to Knock Shrine last year.
More than one million pilgrims visited Knock Shrine in 2023 as numbers returned to pre-Covid levels for the first time, according to local parish priest Fr Richard Gibbons.
Fr Gibbons revealed to the Western People that work is continuing on the construction of 10 pods in Scotland that are being transported to Knock Shrine for a new youth village. Two of them should be arriving by the end of January with the remainder in place ahead of the new season for groups of young people and individuals who wish to enjoy private retreats at the Marian Shrine. Fr Gibbons said the Shrine had enjoyed a very successful 2023.
“Last year was very good and we had just north of one million visitors to the Shrine in 2023. We were very happy with that and we are hoping it will be another busy year ahead."
Asked about the issues raised in the recent RTE documentary, , Fr Gibbons said he believed a relaxation of the rules around clerical celibacy should be considered by the Catholic Church. Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese had called for the Church to revisit its requirement that priests must remain celibate. Mrs McAleese said she fears there will be no priests left in the western world in 30 years’ time if the rules are not changed. Her comments followed strong opinions from Archbishop Charles Scicluna, of Malta, an advisor to Pope Francis.
“If it were up to me, I would revise the requirement that priests have to be celibate,” Archbishop Scicluna, an assistant secretary at the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine said. “Experience has shown me that this is something we need to seriously think about.”
Fr Gibbons said he was interested to hear Archbishop Scicluna’s comments and celibacy is different from other Church teachings because “even Saint Peter was married with a family”.
"Clerical celibacy is always something people are talking about and debating about, but what it will mean down the road I'm not sure,” he said. “It has been a discipline of the church for so long but modern circumstances have to be taken into consideration as well.”
"You have to look at the whole cost of it and legality as well, that is coming up at synods right across the world,” he said. "It is a tradition of the church, but it is not a matter of doctrine.”
