Irish primate maintains hope for united nation
May 27, 2016
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, said that he holds out hope for Irish unity, in an interview with the Irish Independent.
"I do believe that Ireland should be one," the archbishop said. "And I would like to continue to work for that by peaceful means and persuasion."
Archbishop Martin recalled his youth in Derry during "the Troubles," and the tensions he felt when he was searched on his way to school or saw the destructive results of bombings. He emphasized that he could never justify violence for the sake of Irish nationalism. Moreover, he acknowledged that there are still "people who want to drag us back, who feel that you can still bomb people into a united Ireland." He said that he would always fight that tendency.
The Armagh diocese-- the See of St. Patrick-- includes some territory in the Irish Republic and somewhat more in Northern Ireland. But the people of the archdiocese, the archbishop said, "see ourselves as one."
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