COUNTRY music stars Daniel O'Donnell and Nathan Carter are among acts lined up to perform for Pope Francis when he visits Ireland next month.
As many as 2,000 performers, including a 1,000-strong choir, will take part in the two-hour Festival of Families at Croke Park.
Pope Francis is due to visit Ireland on August 25 and 26 as part of the World Meeting of Families, organised by the Catholic Church every three years.
He will also visit Knock Shrine and celebrate Mass in Phoenix Park.
Around 75,000 people are expected to attend the event at Croke Park and the Irish and international artists performing will also include the Riverdance Troupe, Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains, Moya Brennan of Clannad, and The Priests.
Ruán Magan, creative director with Tyrone Productions, which is staging the event, said the Pope had "very much asked to sit among the people".
"He didn’t want to be on the stage," he said.
"He would have rathered that he was down on the pitch."
Meanwhile, the Diocese of Down and Connor announced yesterday that St Malachy's Seminary in north Belfast - the only Catholic seminary in Northern Ireland - is to close in September.
The decision to end 185 years of training priests had been taken after Queen's University closed its Department of Scholastic Philosophy.
The small number of seminarians - previously based at St Malachy's College but in recent years in the former Poor Clares convent on Cliftonville Road - will be relocated elsewhere to continue their training.
In a statement, the diocese said the closure was a "sad moment for all".
