BREAKING: The Pope Will Visit Ireland in 2018

Pope Francis will make his first visit to Ireland in August 2018. The news was confirmed by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny this morning following a 23-minute meeting in the Vatican. The visit will be the first by a sitting Pope since John Paul II drew crowds of more than 1.25 million to Dublin's Phoenix Park in 1979 Accompanied to Rome by his wife Fionnuala and Irish Ambassador to the Holy See Emma Madigan, Mr Kenny met with Pope Francis in the Papal Library in the Apostolic Palace, where an official invitation was extended.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny & his wife Fionnuala in informal discussion with @Pontifex following the audience pic.twitter.com/C8eQPeRbwS

— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) November 28, 2016

The meeting was arranged after the Pope was invited to Ireland to attend the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference during the World Meeting of Families in two years' time. During today's visit Pope Francis presented the Taoiseach with an etching of St Peter's Basilica as it was originally designed. Mr Kenny presented the Pope with a print of a Harry Clark stained glass window.