Pope Leo XIV has designated St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin as the city’s official Catholic cathedral, making it the first cathedral in the capital for 500 years. The approval of upgrading its status from temporary to permanent cathedral comes after a request from Archbishop Dermot Farrell as the cathedral celebrates its bicentennial.
The Pro in Pro Cathedral stands for Pro Tempore, or temporary, and now the cathedral will be known as St. Mary’s. Located on Marlborough Street, the cathedral was built in 1825.
The loss of a Catholic cathedral in Dublin dates back to the Reformation. Originally, Christ Church served as the Catholic cathedral, but when Protestants broke from the papacy, both Christ Church and St. Patrick’s cathedrals became property of the Church of Ireland.
It took 300 years before Catholics had a temporary cathedral, with St. Mary’s completed in 1825.
The issue of cathedral ownership remained one of the lasting legacies of the Reformation, affecting Dublin for centuries.
For 500 years, the Catholic population of Dublin had no dedicated cathedral, a consequence of the rise of Protestantism and the subsequent Penal Laws.
Archbishop Farrell shared that it was with “great joy” that Pope Leo consented to his request and designated St. Mary’s as the Cathedral Church for the Archdiocese.
He added that the decision was significant for the city and especially for those who live around the cathedral.
In his homily at the inauguration Mass, the archbishop stressed the pastoral vision behind the designation. “This cathedral is not a museum or a monument, but a community of people,” he said, expressing his hope that it would remain a place that “fosters and shelters personal prayer and reflection, a place of encounter with the person of Jesus … and a place of prayer is ultimately a place of peace.”