Dublin, Ireland - Following years of decline in vocations to the priesthood in Ireland, this year sees the highest number of Catholic seminarians in 10 years.
Nineteen young men will enter Saint Patrick's seminary at Maynooth, west of Dublin, on Saturday.
In 2002, only one of Northern Ireland's 700,000 Catholics was ordained a priest.
But a County Donegal man, who is about to begin his studies at Maynooth, believes that the death of Pope John Paul II has perhaps contributed to what is being seen as a resurgence of interest in vocations.
Gregory Gallagher, 19, from Mount Charles, said he believed recent scandals involving the Catholic Church had perhaps affected numbers going into the priesthood.
However, he said the death of the pope had "renewed the faith" and "made people question themselves and their perspective on things".
"It's still a big step to take for young people to get the courage to stand up and confess their faith," he said.
Gregory said his call to the priesthood had come through a variety of "signs".
"A number of things inspired me to become a priest, it wasn't a life long ambition I had. It was a process of discerning what God wanted me to do," he said.
"It was like trying to reveal what God had planned out for me in the signs.
Missionary work
"(There were) a number of things such as hearing a priest's homily at Mass, and reading a bible or some kind of a flyer or maybe like watching a documentary on Jesus and his apostles, things like that."
The young man admitted that it had been difficult to reveal his future plans to family and friends, and some had initially been shocked.
"They usually are supportive about it and give you a lot of advice," he said.
Gregory admitted to being nervous about joining 18 other seminarians at Maynooth this weekend, but was still looking forward to it.
"I am planning on being a parish priest and if I wanted ever to change I could change down the line to missionary work," he said.