The new leader of the Catholic Church Pope Leo XIV visited  Tipperary 20 years ago

The new leader of the Catholic Church Pope Leo XIV visited Fethard 20 years ago.

Many people in Fethard will have fond memories of the visit to the town in June 2005 of Fr Robert Provost who was elected as the new pontiff on Thursday.

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Pope Leo XIV , the name US-born Cardinal Robert Prevost has taken, greeted worshippers on the balcony of the Vatican on Thursday as the world watched the historic moments unfold.

As the then General of the Augustinian Order Fr Robert Prevost visited Fethard on Wednesday June 28 2005 for an occasion to mark 700 years of the Augustinians in Fethard. ( See Joe Kenny report and pictures for Fethard News in The Nationalist below)

Fr John Meagher OSA celebrated the mass in the Abbey and Fr Gerry Horan ,the new Provincial, preached.

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“There was a large congregation of Fethard people at the mass, which was marked by wonderful singing from the choir. A group of ladies provided a lovely meal afterwards for all the Augustinian visitors in a marquee in the Abbey garden” stated Joe Kenny, who reported on the occasion and took pictures at the Abbey, in his report for the Fethard News in The Nationalist.

The occasion was attended by over 70 friars who broke from their week-long Province Chapter being held at Limerick University to attend the Fethard celebration.