Irish Church leaders in Rome for 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement

By Joseph Tulloch

For around thirty years, from the late 1960s until the late 1990s, Northern Ireland was wracked by vicious internal conflict.

What brought the violence to an end - at least for the most part - was the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which called for devolved government in the region. 

To mark the anniversary of the historic peace accord, a group of Irish Church leaders of various denominations – Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, and Methodist – has paid a visit to Rome.

In a joint statement, the Christian leaders noted that “the signing of the Agreement was not the end of the journey to peace in Northern Ireland. It simply marked the first faltering steps down a very long road to a new, brighter, and shared future…shaped by tolerance and respect for our differences.”

The visit

The Church Leaders’ visit took place over two days, 28-29 September.

To begin their trip, the group came together to pray for peace at Rome’s Waldensian Evangelical Church.

They then met with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, in the Vatican before attending a seminar at the Pontifical Irish College.

On the following day, Friday 29th September, they attended a number of additional meetings with Christian organizations in Rome and met with the British and Irish Ambassadors to the Holy See for lunch. 

The seminar at the Pontifical Irish College

The Church as a “vessel of hope” 

During the seminar - a key moment of the visit, jointly hosted by the embassies of Ireland and the United Kingdom to the Holy See - a number of key themes emerged. 

The first of these was the need to continually nurture the peace process. Many participants noted that, although the twenty-five years since the signing of the Agreement have undoubtedly gone better than the twenty-five years before, much progress still needs to be made. A lack of integration between various communities and a strong paramilitary presence were often cited as instances of continuing problems.

The role of the Church in helping achieve peace was also a major theme. While many participants noted that its waning influence in Irish society makes this a more difficult task than it was in the past, they also stressed the difference that the Christian message of hope can make in difficult situations.

Several participants, moreover, described how reflecting on the life and ministry of Jesus – who, they noted, constantly transgressed social boundaries – had helped them to personally overcome prejudices towards other parties.

Ambassadors: Churches play an "important role" in the peace process

In a statement, the British and Irish ambassadors to the Holy See said: “For decades, the Churches have played an important role in supporting peace and reconciliation, including in preparing the ground for the successful negotiation of the agreement, facilitating inter-community dialogue and in their ecumenical work, which promoted a deeper understanding of the root causes of the conflict.”

“Unfortunately,” the ambassadors continued, “there is no blueprint for the achievement of peace. But by sharing experiences, we hope that the visit of the Group of Church Leaders will serve to inspire other Church and faith-based leaders as they work to support peace and as they work to support peace and reconciliation around the world."