ON THE day after the resignation of the Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray, Vatican insiders were speculating that the Irish church could be headed for its most radical reorganisation in 800 years.While Italian media sources speculate that other resignations may follow that of Bishop Murray, Vatican sources confirmed that in the wake of his meeting last week with Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Pope Benedict XVI will call for a far-reaching reorganisation of the Irish church.
Vatican insiders point out that the pope will have paid close attention to the Maynooth moral theologian, Dr Vincent Twomey, who last week said that the church in Ireland needed a “drastic overhaul”.
Dr Twomey not only studied under Pope Benedict at Regensburg university in the 1970s but he also forms part of a group of the Pope’s former students who meet with Benedict once a year.
Dr Twomey has also been outspoken in calling for those bishops named in the Murphy commission report to resign. That call, too, will not have gone unnoticed in the Apostolic Palace.
Commenting on the strongly worded Vatican communiqué issued last week after the pope’s meeting with Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin, the Vatican correspondent of Milan daily Il Giornale said: “The bishops who may resign (either of their own volition or under orders from Rome) go from a minimum of four to a maximum of 10 . . .”
Vatican sources are unable to confirm whether the “blueprint” for a reorganised Irish church will provide the major thrust of the pastoral letter which the pope will be addressing to the Irish faithful, presumably some time well into the new year.
At least one canon law expert suggests that the pastoral letter will much more likely concentrate on the painful issue of clerical sex abuse, as related to the Murphy report, with only a generic call for “reorganisation”.
Precise details as to the future of the Irish church, including issues such as the reduction of the number of dioceses from the current 26 to maybe 10 or eight, would be expected to emanate from Ireland, with the implicit backing of the pope.
Meanwhile, Bishop Murray’s resignation and the fallout of the Murphy report received ample coverage in the Italian media.
Rome daily, La Repubblica , dedicated two pages to the issue, including extensive extracts from the report.
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