Relationships Talk

If you’re looking for love ahead of the Pope’s visit then you might just be in luck.

Single Catholics have been invited to take part in a special speed-dating event which has been announced as part of the Papal festivities.

The get-together is set to take place on Thursday night at the Horse Show House pub, located a three-minute walk from the RDS where the World Meeting of Families is being held.

It’s being organised by the Denver Catholic Speed Dating group, who boast helping to set up 30 marriages to date.

The Horse Show House pub in Dublin (Image: Google maps)

The event, which is for all ages, costs €30 if you pay online or €35 on the night. This price includes finger foods and a drink.

Announcing the event, organisers said: “This event is by the Denver Catholic Speed Dating LLC out of the US, which hosted Philadelphia Catholic Speed Dating during World Meeting of Families 2015. It is a small events planner with more than 30 marriages from among participants who met at our events.”

Speed dating in Cork, Ireland in August 2015 (Image: Getty)

Anna Maria Basquez set up the dating organisation in 2011. She previously gave the following faith-based advice to website datingadvice.com: “Be conservative during dating, but be liberal in finding someone. Love can’t be measured by a formula, so people should always give each other at least two dates to get to know one another.

“We also have to use the opportunity of dating to find out how we ourselves are going to contribute to a lifelong relationship and work on those things in the meantime, always taking stock of what we bring to the relationship too.

“It’s all based on giving someone a chance. If we use too many existing character traits put together by a machine or an organization to measure each other by, we can miss the mark.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

“If we size people up before even meeting, we are taking ourselves out of God’s path toward someone.

“Let the conversation flow and be authentic. It won’t always be a perfect mini date but, if you feel the time given to speak to a person was not enough, definitely mark the word Date.”

“Each day is such a gift, and you can’t waste that. Always keep your heart open. In our faith, we’re supposed to denounce heartbreak. We’re supposed to understand that God came so that we can have life and have it abundantly.”

Pope Francis arrives for his Angelus prayer at St. Peter’s square in the Vatican on August 12, 2018 (Image: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)

More than 600,000 pilgrims are expected to see Pope Francis as he presides over a number of events across the country.

Pope Francis will arrive in Dublin on Saturday as the city hosts the World Meeting of Families – an international event staged every three years.

He’ll do a ‘Popemobile’ tour of the city before taking part in the Festival of Families in Croke Park. Thee following day he’ll celebrate mass in the Phoenix Park.

There will be other events throughout the capital and in Knock Shrine, Co Mayo over the weekend.

It marks the 81-year-old’s first visit to Ireland and the first papal visit in almost 40 years. The last pontiff to visit Ireland was Pope John Paul II, who drew crowds of over 2.5 million people in 1979.