Thousands of free tickets for the Pope's visit to Ireland have been released online
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Thousands of free tickets for the Pope's visit to Ireland have been released online

TICKETS to events during the Pope's upcoming visit to Ireland have been released online this morning.

Pope Francis will be in the country over the weekend of August 25 and 26 to attend the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) in Dublin's Croke Park and to celebrate the event's closing mass at Phoenix Park.

He will also be visiting the Knock shrine in Co. Mayo to recite the Angelus.

Most Croke Park tickets have already been allocated but Phoenix Park has the capacity to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people.

Around 500,000 tickets are available for the Pontiff's Mass there, while 45,000 tickets have been released for his visit to the Marian Shrine.

Pope Francis' two-day tour in August marks only the second papal visit to Ireland in history (Image: Getty)

Fr Tim Bartlett, WMOF2018's Secretary General, said thousands of worshippers may be left disappointed due to the number of international registrations for the Dublin event being at a record high.

He revealed that any extra tickets will be "made available to the homeless, refugees, to those working with or supporting those dealing with drug addiction, those helping families in need in our society".

These were “the people the Holy Father wants to have near him, that he wants to meet,” he said.

Fr Bartlett added: “We should be incredibly proud as a country that we have, by a factor of at least two to three, brought in the highest ever international registration for a World Meeting of Families pastoral congress."

According to organisers, security measures are in place to stop ticket touts and anybody attempting to sell on free tickets should be reported to Gardaí.

Tickets for the Mass at Phoenix Park and the separate ceremony in Knock are available on the WMOF's website here