Only a handful of the 500,000 people expected to attend the Pope’s final mass on his visit to Ireland on Sunday actually turned up – unofficial attendance figures claim.
Despite half a million tickets being made available for the landmark mass, according to Journal.ie only 130,000 worshippers turned up to the ceremony.
The numbers compare poorly to the crowds who gathered for Pope John Paul’s visit in 1979, where over a million people gathered in the same park for mass.
In total 2.7 million people turned out to see Pope John Paul II at several locations over three days – and Sunday’s event was expected to trump that.
But organisers were left red faced and disappointed as aerial photos revealed massive green spaces in between small pockets of people.
Commentators blamed inclement weather as part of the reason turnout may have been lower than expected.
The Garda Press Office has not made any announcements to the media regarding the figure, which is based on information gathered by officers tasked with overseeing the event.
An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park in Dublin as Pope Francis attends the closing mass of his two-day trip to Ireland
An aerial view of Phoenix Park in Dublin where half a million people have tickets to see the Pope give his closing mass
An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park in Dublin as Pope Francis attends the closing Mass on Sunday afternoon
Thousands of people gather at Phoenix Park in Dublin to hear the Pope’s Mass before he finishes his trip to Ireland
The Popemobile drives through cheering crowds waving Irish and Vatican flags as Francis completes his two-day visit
An overhead view of Phoenix Park in Dublin, where Pope Francis is finishing his Irish trip with a huge outdoor mass today
The crowd in Phoenix Park were half a million people were issued with tickets for Francis’s closing mass on Sunday
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, President Michael D. Higgins and the head of state’s wife Sabina Higgins at the Phoenix Park service
Pope Francis leads the Catholic service in Phoenix Park in Dublin this afternoon where hundreds of thousand went to see him
Pope Francis, wearing a specially-designed green vestment, at the altar in Phoenix Park where he delivered his mass
Priests wear plastic rain coats ahead of the World Meeting of Families closing mass in Phoenix Park, Dublin, on Sunday
Pope Francis leads the closing mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on the second and final day of his visit to Ireland
A woman sleeps at Phoenix Park in Dublin as she waits for Pope Francis to give a huge outdoor mass on Sunday afternoon
Earlier on Sunday Pope Francis was greeted by thousands of adoring Catholics as he arrived in Phoenix Park to give a closing mass on Sunday
A girl ties baby shoes to a fence in Dublin as a part of a protest to highlight child abuse at the hands of the Catholic church
Protests against clerical sex abuse in Dublin highlighting the issue which has dominated Pope Francis’s two-day visit
Clerical sex abuse protesters assemble at the General Post Office for a second day of demonstrations during the Pope’s visit
Pope Francis delivers his speech during his visit at the Knock Shrine in which he once again addressed the issue of sex abuse
Pope Francis’s cape blows in the wind as he addresses Catholic worshippers at the Knock shrine in County Mayo today
Pope Francis takes off his cap as he arrives at the airport in Knock on day two of his papal visit to the Republic of Ireland
Pope Francis is presented with flowers by Saoirse McCarthy, 11, from St. Patrick’s National School, as he heads to Knock
The pontiff arrives in his Popemobile for a visit to the Knock Shrine in County Mayo on Sunday morning
Pope Francis kneeling down to pray at the Knock Shrine where he asked for God’s forgiveness over clerical sex abuse
The Pope has his cape straightened as he addresses Catholic worshippers in Ireland on day two of his visit
The Pope sits with clergy and worshippers on his visit to the revered Catholic shrine in County Mayo on Sunday morning
Pope Francis lights a candle at the Catholic site in Ireland which is said to have been the site of an apparition in 1879
Pope Francis waves from his Popemobile as he arrives at the Knock Shrine on the morning of his second day in Ireland
The Pope was pictured smiling and waving to the gathered masses alongside the cabin staff and pilots of the Aer Lingus jet
Moments before he boarded the aircraft the pontiff bade farewell to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who had been a central part of his trip
Pope Francis turns and waves to gathered crowds on the runway at Dublin airport as he boarded a plane on Sunday evening to go back to Rome
The Pope’s Aer Lingus flight taking off from Dublin International Airport after his historic visit to the predominantly Catholic country