Nathan Carter will be headlining the Pope’s visit to Ireland this summer

Nathan Carter will be headlining the Pope's visit to Ireland this summer.

The wildly popular country singer will be performing for Pope Francis on August 25 at Dublin's Croke Park. The Pope will address the crowd at the sporting venue next month as part of the World Meeting of Families 2018. The six day event will see the pontiff visit Croke Park, the Phoenix Park, and the Knock Shrine in Co Mayo. Half a million tickets for the Papal visit mass in the Phoenix Park have already sold out since going on sale late last month. 45,000 tickets for his visit to the Knock Shrine  have also been snapped up. The World Meeting of Families announced today that they were "delighted" to announce that Nathan Carter would be joining them for their festival. https://twitter.com/WMOF2018/status/1019905980245606401 The cast of Riverdance, Dana Masters, Daniel O’Donnell, Celine Byrne, and the Begley Family will also be making an appearance. Festival organisers have said that the selection of themes and artists featured in the event reflect "... many of the priorities in the ministry of Pope Francis including homelessness and those on the margins." Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said that Pope Francis is a great attraction because he "shows how the role of Pope can be unique in bringing the Christian message into our complex world." He said:

"He shows us that he can live in a world where faith seems marginal and yet manages to touch hearts.   "He finds ways in which he can win hearts for what the teaching of Jesus involves, not through imposing and judging, but through winning and attracting.  That is his real talent.”

This comes after Dunnes Stores and Dealz announced Pope Francis memorabilia ahead of the festival. Dunnes are selling Pope T-shirts to mark the occasion and Dealz are offering pontiff-themed 'Lollipopes.'