Vatican to replace head of Catholic Church in Ireland

The Vatican is set to make Cardinal Sean Brady pay the price of the recent scandals surrounding him by announcing his successor within two months.

The Vatican and the Papal Nuncio, Dr Charles Brown, are advancing plans to replace Dr Brady as Primate of All Ireland.

It’s all part of an effort to finally put two decades of scandal behind the church here.

Senior Vatican sources said his successor — most likely to be a bishop from abroad — will be named before Christmas.

Dr Brady has up to now refused to resign despite the revelations about his mishandling of abuse allegations about the notorious Fr Brendan Smyth.

It is understood Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and most of the current Irish Catholic hierarchy do not figure in the succession stakes.

Instead, the Vatican is shortlisting Irish clerics based outside the country.

Dr Brady has been mired in controversy, unable to shake the Smyth scandal since it ignited two years ago.

He has faced repeated calls for his resignation after it emerged that he had been aware of abuse by Smyth in the 1970s, but did not inform the police or the abused children’s parents.

At the time, he announced that he had asked Rome for a bishop to assist him but this was not forthcoming from the Vatican.

However, the Vatican is now moving to appoint a coadjutor bishop — a bishop with the right of succession — to take over from Cardinal Brady, and hopes to have him in place by the end of the year.

Whoever is selected as Cardinal Brady’s successor would likely spend 18 months as coadjutor before finally taking over as Primate. [More]

SOURCE

Belfast Telegraph