THE man who deftly oversaw the worldwide coverage of Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland in 1979 has died.
Tributes have been paid to Jim Cantwell (75), the first director of the Catholic Press and Information Office, who was present in Rome for many of the major events in the Catholic Church over the decades.
Fr Dermod McCarthy, the former head of religious services at RTE, described Mr Cantwell as a "mine of information" on the famous papal conclaves to elect a new pope.
"He led the media coverage of the papal visit in 1979, which was an enormous event, with 1.4 million people descending on the Phoenix Park," he said.
He was in Rome to pass on the finer details to reporters of major events, such as the canonisation of Saint Oliver Plunkett, the death of Pope Paul VI and the elections of Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II.
Fr McCarthy said the former journalist and Waterford native had faced some opposition when he first returned from London, where he had been working at 'The Universe', to become the first director of the Irish Catholic Church Press and Information Office.
"Not everyone in the church or the media either approved or understood the church needing a press office in the first place," explained Fr McCarthy.
"He was an articulate and knowledgeable man and throughout his career he was always well liked and highly respected by fellow journalists."
Bishop of Derry, Edward Daly, who was tasked with setting up the first press office, told how Mr Cantwell served in that post for the next 25 years until he retired in 2000.
"Jim Cantwell was a man who served the church and people who worked in the media with unfailing courtesy, respect and professionalism," he said.
DIFFICULT
"In his latter years, he had the most difficult task of dealing with the fallout from the various issues that beset the church in the 1990s."
He helped draw up the church's first guidelines on responding to clerical child sex abuse in the 1990s.
Mr Cantwell is mourned by his wife Eileen and his children Nina, Rhona, Paul and Michael.
His funeral Mass will take place today in Saint Michael's Church in Dun Laoghaire.