Originally Posted by
slimboyfat
You're probably not comparing like with like though.
1979 the Pope visited Drogheda,Knock,Galway,Limerick, Cork and the Phoenix Park.
This time only Knock and Dublin.
Last time no tickets,this time limited to 45,000 tickets for Knock and 500,000 (+100,000 for volunteers ,helpers etc)in the Phoenix Park.
A certain percentage of older people that may have wanted to go may not have bothered with the internet route.Again a lot of older people may also have been discouraged by the talk of long walks to get to the venues.This time there was talk of some campaigners (anti)booking tickets with the intention of not attending.
Finally the weather possibly put off some people attending today.
Yes there are more non-religious and anti -religion people today than last time but the couple of direct comparisons in the posts above are not the full story either.