Biden arrives in Mayo on final day of Ireland visit

US President Joe Biden has touched the apparition wall as part of his tour of the Knock shrine in Co Mayo.

Accompanied by parish priest Fr Richard Gibbons, the US president then entered the Apparition Chapel for some moments of quiet reflection. It followed a tour of the Knock basilica.

Knock shrine is a Catholic pilgrimage site that has been visited by several popes, most recently by Pope Francis in 2018.

Mr Biden is now set to visit the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Centre’s family history research unit.

He's also expected to make a public address in the town where some of his ancestors hail from at a cathedral - Ballina, Co Mayo - on Friday evening.

On Wednesday, the president visited Co Louth, to where some of his family have been traced, and the visit to Co Mayo tracks the other side of his family tree.

It is also believed Mr Biden will make a private visit to the Mayo Roscommon Hospice in Castlebar that is dedicated to his son Beau who died of brain cancer in 2015.

The visit will conclude in the town of Ballina where Mr Biden will make a speech at St Muredach’s Cathedral.

Mr Biden’s great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral in 1827, which helped buy tickets for himself and his family to sail to America decades later in 1851.

The Mayo visits conclude the president’s four-day trip to the island of Ireland.

In the Irish parliament on Thursday, Mr Biden spoke of his pride at addressing the country’s politicians.

“This is one of the great honours of my career, to be here today, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

In a dinner at Dublin Castle in his honour, the president received a standing ovation as he finished a speech in which he reflected on his family roots and told the audience: “No barrier is too thick or too strong for Ireland.”

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