Amid abuse scandal, 90% fewer Irish Catholics attend Pope Francis' Mass than Pope John Paul II's

In a sign of the Catholic Church's struggles with one of its most faithful followers, fewer than a quarter of an expected crowd of half a million people last weekend attended Pope Francis' public Mass in Dublin, Ireland.

The pope's Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park on Sunday drew 135,000 people, far short of the estimated 500,000 people forecast to attend, according to official estimates published by Irish Central, The Journal and other Irish news sites. During the last papal visit to Ireland – in 1979 – Pope John Paul II attracted more than 1 million for a public Mass. That's a drop-off rate of almost 90 percent.