Few rumours have been more persistent than the story that Archbishop
Diarmuid Martin will be called back to the Vatican to occupy a senior
position in the Roman Curia. It didn’t happen under the Pontificate of Benedict XVI, but there are strong indications that Pope Francis may now tip him for a top role.
Rumours of a new posting for Archbishop Martin are swirling furiously around informed circles in the Dublin archdiocese.
Well-placed sources in Archbishop’s House also see a combination of factors indicating that the speculation is more than just a rumour.
Networking
Dr Martin is the best-known Irish prelate in the Catholic world. He is regularly called upon to speak at major Catholic events around the world and while attending events in the Vatican, his networking ability is second-to-none.
Quite a number of people who complain that the Archbishop of Dublin has shown little diplomacy in dealing with his priests, marvel at his persona while attending major Catholic events around the world.
Clerical abuse
Archbishop Martin’s deft handling of clerical abuse in the Church in Ireland has also won him much credit around the globe.
If Pope Francis wanted to prioritise robust safeguarding procedures in every country in the world, a Rome-based posting for the Ballyfermot native would send a powerful signal.
It was never quite clear what – if any – influence Diarmuid Martin had in the Pontificate of Benedict XVI.
Although, having spent more than a quarter of a century working for the Vatican, much of it in the Holy See’s diplomatic circle, he has made a few friends along the way.
His globe-trotting has also ensured a long list of high-ranking friends in the hierarchy around the globe, among them the energetic Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga.
Cardinal Maradiaga and Archbishop Martin are close, so much so that the cardinal travelled to Ireland in 2003 to be present at Archbishop Martin’s reception in Dublin as coadjutor archbishop.
Repentance
Now the cardinal has emerged as a close confidant of Pope Francis, having been chosen by the Argentine Pontiff as co-ordinator of a committee of senior cardinals advising on reform of the Vatican.
Another member of that influential committee is Boston’s Cardinal Seán O’Malley. Cardinal O’Malley was the man appointed by the Vatican to lead an inquiry in to the Dublin archdiocese in the wake of the clerical abuse scandals.
The cardinal has praised Archbishop Martin’s forthright approach to dealing with the issue and jointly led an act of repentance in the pro-cathedral where both men together washed the feet of abuse victims.
However, during the Apostolic Visitation to Dublin, Cardinal O’Malley also heard grumbling from some priests and laypeople who were unhappy with some of the archbishop’s stewardship of in Dublin. The cardinal promised to bring these concerns to the Vatican.
Yet another influential voice in Archbishop Martin’s corner in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace is Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
The Canadian prelate also served as the Pope’s representative to Dublin’s Eucharistic Congress in 2012 and spent a lot of time both before and during the event working with Archbishop Martin on some of the finer detail.
Superpower
Many expect that Pope Francis will announce a swathe of new appointments to key roles within weeks.
The most-influential of these roles is Secretary of State, effectively the Vatican’s Prime Minister.
The current incumbent Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will soon be 79 and was due to retire almost four years ago. He is, perhaps unfairly, largely-blamed for a lot of the media crises during the reign of Benedict XVI.
His tenure has shown many cardinals that the Vatican needs a non-Italian in this key role.
As an English-speaker Archbishop Martin is well-placed, and carries none of the baggage that a prelate from a superpower like the United States would bring to the sensitive diplomatic posting.
Another Vatican-based official who has the ear of Pope Francis is Msgr Peter Wells, the assessor in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. He is acutely aware of the situation in Dublin and as one priest puts it “knows Archbishop Martin’s strengths as well as his weaknesses”.
Msgr Wells has emerged as a key player in the Vatican of Pope Francis and has been appointed to lead a number of committees investigating the Vatican Bank reporting directly to the Pontiff.
Msgr Wells and Archbishop Martin worked closely on Pope Benedict’s 2010 Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland. Msgr Wells effectively drafted the letter for the Pope based on input from the Irish bishops, including Archbishop Martin.
Msgr Wells was also a key voice at a 2009 meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Seán Brady and Dr Martin in response to the publication of the Murphy Report.
Key allies
Vatican observers know that Pope Francis will need key allies if he is to embark on meaningful reform of the Roman Curia.
Dr Martin is ideally placed given his time as a Vatican insider combined with his critique of the weaker elements of the Church’s central governance.
In an interview earlier this year referring to alleged corruption in the Vatican, Dr Martin said the so-called ‘Vatileaks’ scandal “saddened” him as it was a sign of a very serious and rotten problem.
He said during his time at the Vatican that he met both “great” and “nasty” people, as well as some who were ambitious “in the bad sense of the word”.
For an Argentine Pope, seen by some in the Vatican as an outsider, the man from Dublin, who has experience of dealing with the Roman Curia from the inside and from the outside could be a welcome friend.