Irish Evenly Split On Measure To Legalize Divorce Pope, Mother Teresa Weigh In As Country Votes Today

Ireland votes today on whether to permit divorce, a debate that has pitted church against state, Pope John Paul II against the rock singer Bono of U2.

Opinion polls this week showed a nation split almost down the middle.

Some 2.6 million people are eligible to vote in the referendum on whether to amend the constitution and let couples divorce. The result should be announced on Saturday.

The vote is the culmination of nine years’ work by four Irish governments. In 1986, Ireland voted nearly 2 to 1 against legalizing divorce. This time all five major parties back the change, but the grassroots opposition is still strong.

“I doubt if you’d have anything like this in any other country in Europe, where virtually every single politician is urging a yes vote, yet the people are very nearly saying no,” said Sen. Shane Ross. “It’s an extraordinary situation.”

Article 41 of the constitution, adopted in 1937, says: “No law shall be enacted providing for the grant of a dissolution of marriage.” It makes Ireland the only Western nation that bans divorce.

The proposed 15th amendment would allow for divorce for couples who had been separated for four years out of five and who could demonstrate “no reasonable prospect of a reconciliation.”

In 1986, an early pro-divorce lead in opinion polls collapsed before the vote, chiefly because there were no laws governing property rights, spouse support and children’s welfare.

That legislation has since been enacted, but polls indicate that Catholic teaching retains its hold over large segments of opinion, particularly in rural areas.

Mother Teresa wrote to the Irish Catholic newspaper last week to oppose any change, and Pope John Paul II weighed in Wednesday. Jesus taught that Christian love and children’s welfare require “fidelity and unbreakable unity between the man and woman,” the pontiff told Irish pilgrims.

An October poll showed 62 percent in favor of permitting divorce, but the most recent survey, published Tuesday, put support at 45 percent to the opponents’ 42. In a poll with a margin of error of 3 points, it was effectively a dead heat.

The No-Divorce Campaign has filled Dublin with billboards saying “Hello Divorce, Goodbye Daddy,” and “YOU WILL PAY!” The latter predicts 10 percent higher taxes if divorce becomes legal.