Ireland has gone through all sorts of changes of late most notably the Repeal the 8th campaign for many still wanting to celebrate that, we decided to come up with a play on the liberal elements of Pope Francis’s leadership by blending the rainbow of the LBTQI movement over a drawing of him wearing a Repeal jumper. We can’t lie, we knew it pushed the envelope on what was acceptable even after the resounding victory of the 8th campaign and we were a bit worried.

We wanted to poke fun at the whole thing because we are all about giving others ways of celebrating occasions in life and in history, on this occasion, differently because at Maktus, we are all about “liking different”.

We scoured the world for examples of funny alternative gifts and came up with a few of our own ideas about how we could celebrate the Pope’s visit. Our store window was painted with a stained glass look and we offered free confessions to shoppers that spent over €100. We stocked additionally Jesus Bandages, 'A Can With Fran' coasters and a number of different design prints of our own. We wanted to highlight our idea of what a post-catholic Ireland can creatively produce. Decades ago, we would have been vilified by the media and despised by the public for such a range of designs. In 2018, things are different, people see the church differently. Our “Pop-ular” products were a hit with many and got some national media attention.

To paraphrase what the Vatican always says ”God Loves a Buyer”.

 Many thanks to all our loyal customers!