The Vatican’s new envoy to Ireland, Monsignor Charles Brown (52) will shortly be elevated to Archbishop according to the National Catholic Register.
The Irish American from New York also dealt personally with the fallout from the Irish scandals in Rome according to the Register and is considered very close to Pope Benedict.
The Register reported that “The new nuncio is reputed to be very knowledgeable about the situation of the Irish Church, involved in two ad limina visits to the Vatican by Irish bishops, as well as the 2009 emergency summit when Ireland’s bishops were summoned to Rome over the clerical sex-abuse crisis.”
Msgr. Brown dealt directly with Irish abuse cases with Msgr. Charles Scicluna the equivalent of the Vatican Attorney General.
The Italian newspaper Il Fogolio has called the appointment highly unusual, stating that bypassing the normal Vatican diplomatic structure is a huge step. They compared it to Italy recently appointing a Prime Minister from outside the political arena.
___________
Read more:
More news on the Irish Catholic Church from IrishCentral
Irish car salesman tells how banks almost made him commit suicide
Top Christmas Irish gift ideas for kids
___________
Michael Kelly, deputy editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper stated “It is a sign, I believe, that the Holy Father is signaling that it is the Church’s own life and mission in Ireland that needs at this time the assistance of the Holy See...”
Archbishop-elect Brown has worked at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith since 1994, directly under the current pope to whom he is considered very close.
Brown is said to be very popular in Rome and is known for riding his scooter around Vatican City.
He has studied at the University of Notre Dame, Oxford University and the University of Toronto, and has a doctorate in sacramental theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant’Anselmo in Rome.
Brown’is said to be very close to fellow New Yorker Archbishop Timothy Dolan and could possibly be a contender to replace him some day.
8 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.mamaginnty | Dec 14, 2011, 11:12 AM EST
Tis news to me that ..anyone..in the vatican has dealt with the problem, and if Brown is so close to the pope I don't expect much change in vatican thinking either. Surprised they did not send him to Africa as they are going full steam ahead in trying to convert the poor in small townships over there.
IrelandNorth | Dec 14, 2011, 07:39 AM EST
Still, you gotta hand it to the ol' Holy Roman Catholic & Apostolic Empire ooops, I mean Church!]. They've got some street cred. Appointing a JFK lookalike is a good way of circumventing anti Holy Roman prejudice by utilising pro-American Irish sentiment. Now, that's what I call diplomacy.
esatdigiwank | Dec 14, 2011, 05:10 AM EST
Is he coming to Ireland to do a 'Red Adair' salvage job for the rc church? To negotiate so that the Rottweiler will get an official invite to the World Catholic Congress which is happening here in '12. So that Rottweiler will not be snubbed in front of the world. They've (Vatican) not gone away you know!
Collette2 | Dec 14, 2011, 02:50 AM EST
The only reason they get elevated is because they have experience in "rorting" the system. CitizenWhy hit the nail on the head.
butlerreport | Dec 14, 2011, 12:08 AM EST
He should stay in Rome. Why is there even an envoy allowed in Ireland anymore?
CitizenWhy | Dec 13, 2011, 05:27 PM EST
Will he be helping Archbishop Martin in throwing "bad" Catholics out of the church (doing them a favor) and in his crusade to demand more (total conformity) from "cafeteria" Catholics? Is what Martin is up to a test case for rolling out this "purification" program to the entireity of western nations? Is this Nuncio the new Grand Inquisitor (soft and slick version)? Will Martin be the bad cop and this man the good cop in this purge? Stay tuned.
CitizenWhy | Dec 13, 2011, 05:22 PM EST
Dubious meaning: "Dealt personally" with the sex scandal. By this do they mean bureaucratically, shuffling papers, pleasing the boss? I doubt that he has spent any meaningful time, or time at all, with the victims. Thus he has NOT dealt personally with the sex scandals.
CaptainCon | Dec 13, 2011, 07:39 AM EST
Unless he's about to wave a magic wand and produce the holy ghost he's on a hiding to nothing. I suspect this is just a way of promoting another CDF hardliner mainly because so many Bishops are tainted around the world. Either way there's no way this chap is putting any genies back in any bottles any time soon.