Pope's Visit to Ireland #1: Ignis Fatuus

Rev. John Dunlop, former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, has given ringing endorsements of the Pope's proposed mission to Ireland in 2018 plus his message, telling us:

“He should come to Northern Ireland as well ... and the Protestant churches should welcome a visit from Pope Francis. He's written a marvellous little book called ‘The Joy of the Gospel' and I commend that to all my friends. It's a book that they ought to read.”

Mr Dunlop is deluding. He is misleading. He is the classic case in the spiritual realm of a ‘friar's lantern' – an ignis fatuus.

We would be most unwise to follow this foolish, fatal advice. Rather, we should adopt the course that Jesus delineated in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”