Debate contribution: Pope Francis
Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 28 April 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Assembly Business
- Heading
- Pope Francis
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4913232
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for convening this very important moment in the Assembly. I do not think that there are many in Northern Ireland or across the world who will not remember Pope Francis with deep gratitude.
I will always be thankful for his visit to Dublin in 2018 and the chance that I had to attend the World Meeting of Families. It is a memory that will stay with me.
This is not to be irreverent but, given the complexity of the island that we are from, I will go back to something that happened at that meeting. It was an extraordinary event. Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach at the time, and the Pope walked from one end of Dublin Castle to the other to take their seats at the front of a packed hall. I have been a person of faith for many years, and I was interested in how the event would go. This is the truth: an incredible beam of light came through a window and right on to Pope Francis. Given the theological background that I come from, that challenged me in a way that made me smile. One of the things that Pope Francis demonstrated was that it is not about religion; it is about faith. We have wrestled with that for too many years in this country. Whether you agree with the theology or not, the example that Pope Francis set was unquestionably good. He was a different Pope, as was obvious from when he started. Why was he different? He chose to live simply by swapping the grand apostolic palace for a modest guest house; by driving small cars, as Mike Nesbitt mentioned; and even by carrying his own bags. It was clear that he was not about show; he was about service. His heart, as others have outlined today, was always with those on the edges. He made it his mission to reach out to the poor, the migrants and the forgotten. He visited slums, prisons and refugee camps. His vision of a Church for the poor moved the focus away from strict rules towards one of true faith and of mercy. Of course, there was his warmth, whether when kissing babies or — it is an image that really sits with me; I saw it at the weekend and had not seen it before — when a young girl with Down's syndrome made her way up to the altar and, instead of her being shooed away, he took that little girl's hand and gave his message holding her hand. He was one for taking selfies, and he always spoke from the heart: one might think that he would have made a great MLA. He made the Church feel closer to the people. As was mentioned, for people on this island, particularly those whose lives were irrevocably changed by what the Church did not do to protect them, he sought to make a change. He rightly earned the title "the People's Pope". If he had left a message before he died, I believe that it would have been not to mourn his death but to learn from his example of humility and humanity. Our thoughts are with the people who will miss him: his family, his colleagues and those in the Catholic Church.
551 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.06 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.96).
- Subject area: Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.08 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.07 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.04 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.06 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.96 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.03 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:25 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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