Government Seanad chief whip Paul Coghlan has arranged the evening with Archbishop Charles John Brown, the papal nuncio, ahead of the Vatican representative speaking at an event in the senator’s hometown next month.
The Fine Gael senator confirmed the private dinner: "It will be a sit-down supper. I haven’t a clue how many will come. There will be a glass of wine and the supper. He’s a very amenable and accessible man."
Archbishop Brown is set to speak in Killarney, Co Kerry, next month at the Hugh O’Flaherty memorial weekend. Sen Coghlan is on the committee of the annual event, held to remember the late "Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican", who was responsible for saving thousands of soldiers and Jews during the Second World War.
Senators from across parties have been invited to tomorrow’s private dinner with the papal nuncio.
The event comes after criticism last year in the Dáil of the Vatican and its handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations.
Enda Kenny at the time criticised the Vatican for attempting to frustrate the Cloyne inquiry, accusing it of downplaying the rape of children to protect its reputation.
He told the Dáil the Cloyne report highlighted the "dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, and narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day".
The Leinster House dinner has annoyed a number of non-Fine Gael senators. One said: "It was all spread by word of mouth, no official invites."