Pope in Ireland – level 2

03-09-2018 15:00

Pope Francis travelled to Ireland last weekend in the first papal visit in 39 years. In 1979, Pope John Paul II drew crowds of 2.7 million.

A series of scandals undermined the once-powerful position of the Catholic Church in Ireland. In the 1990s, people found out that hundreds of priests sexually abused thousands of children over many years.

The 1990s were also the time when Ireland’s economy grew and opened the country to the world. The abortion referendum and legalising gay marriage also shows Ireland is in change.

Pope Francis met Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins, and the head of government Leo Eric Varadkar at Dublin castle where they gave a speech. The Pope expressed pain and shame over the scandals and asked for forgiveness.

Difficult words: papal (related to the Pope), undermine (ruin, hurt, make weaker), abuse (do bad things to somebody), forgiveness (ask to forgive – no longer feel angry).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.

What do you think about this news?

LEARN 3000 WORDS with NEWS IN LEVELS

News in Levels is designed to teach you 3000 words in English. Please follow the instructions
below.

How to improve your English with News in Levels: 

Test

  1. Do the test at Test Languages.
  2. Go to your level. Go to Level 1 if you know 1-1000 words. Go to Level 2 if you know 1000-2000 words. Go to Level 3 if you know 2000-3000 words.

Reading

  1. Read two news articles every day.
  2. Read the news articles from the day before and check if you remember all new words.

Listening

  1. Listen to the news from today and read the text at the same time.
  2. Listen to the news from today without reading the text.

Writing

  1. Answer the question under today’s news and write the answer in the comments.

Speaking

  1. Choose one person from the Skype section.
  2. Talk with this person. You can answer questions from Speak in Levels.

 

Stock images by Depositphotos