The Visit: Preparing for Pope Francis

It had been 39 years since a pope last visited Ireland but in March 2018 Pope Francis announced he was coming Dublin.  In a country rocked by scandal after scandal within the Catholic Church, this visit was always going to be a contentious one.  This one hour documentary goes behind the scenes with those tasked with making the Papal Visit a success, against all the odds. Through the eyes of the clergy, the event managers, the volunteers and the Gardaí the viewer will experience the planning, the resistance, the obstacles and emotions associated with this momentous Papal visit.

Notoriously guarded as an institution, the Catholic Church opened its doors to Moondance Productions and granted access to a world which hasn’t been seen on Irish TV before to capture this fly on the wall style documentary as they prepared for what was to be the biggest gathering in Europe in 2018.

The Visit is a unique take on the Pope Francis’s trip to Ireland, from the inside out, it is not a religious programme it is an observational look at how this ambitious event was realised, and with the team up against it in the weeks leading up to the visit this documentary captures both the sense of anticipation and trepidation as D-day draws near.