St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / NateBergin. Breaking News
On the Feast of St Lawrence O’Toole, the patron saint of the Dublin Archdiocese and the 200th anniversary of the building of the Pro-Cathedral, Pope Leo XIV has granted the city church the status of a full Cathedral.
The announcement, which has been a closely guarded secret except to this paper, was announced at the St Lawerance O’Toole annual Mass this morning in the Pro Cathedral by a clearly jubilant Archbishop of Dublin Dr Dermot Farrell.
Dr Farrell has doubled down on the diocese’s commitment to the inner city by preparing to spend an estimated €20m on refurbishing the Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street, just off O’Connell Street, and this paper has been informed that planning permission for the remedial works has been granted.
It is believed that the Archbishop felt that closing the Pro-cathedral, which was discussed, would be akin to abandoning the inner city and that a cathedral in the midst of the city is a visible sign of the church alive in the city of Dublin.