According to Papal Dictate dating back as far as 1883 the pope is nominally the Bishop of Kilfenora, in County Clare. Along with attempting to mend a fragile Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis I is taking on this west of Ireland diocese.
However, this doesn’t mean that Pope Francis I will be making regular visits to his Irish diocese.
The County Clare library records explain this anomaly. Their records state:
“The last Catholic bishop of the diocese was James Augustine O'Daly who died in France in 1749. In 1750 the Catholic church united Kilfenora with Kilmacduagh and in 1883 both dioceses were united with the relatively new diocese of Galway. To this day, the official title for prelate in the see of Galway is Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. Technically, this means that the Pope is the Bishop of Kilfenora.”
The Church dictates that no bishop can be split between two different provinces.
A source from the parish told TheJournal.ie that this rule was introduced to “prevent bishops from collecting dues from more than one province without doing the work.”
They said it is unlikely that canon law would ever be changed to amend this as Kilfenora is the “only one of these parishes that still exists.”
The source said, “It’s a unique thing that the parish has and they pride themselves on it because it gives them that little bit of distinction from other parishes...For all practical purposes it means absolutely nothing because the bishop [of Galway] does everything and I don’t think it’s going to be high up on Pope Francis’ list.”
The Bishop / Pope is not expected to make frequent visits as the Bishop of Galway handles all the clerical and administrative duties of the area. However, last year, residents of the County Clare region did think that Pope Benedict XVI might make a visit to the diocese while travelling for the Ecclesiastical Conference in Dublin, according to the Clerical Whispers blog. However the now retired Pope did not travel to the event.
6 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.ellenfromcork | Mar 17, 2013, 12:19 PM EDT
Just because a cat has kittens in the oven,it doesn't make them muffins.
darao | Mar 16, 2013, 10:25 PM EDT
Silly! But enjoy the fairy tale as it is St. Patrick's season. It is really harmless and may be fun for some.
aloistmartin | Mar 16, 2013, 10:09 PM EDT
As an American of European Ancestry I. thought the Polish John Paul II somewhat Romantic; But there is something so utterly Down Home about a Latin Papa. See you all ( Catholics ) at Midnight Mass, Christmas Eve 2013 / from The Sistine Chapel ? )
Seanmor | Mar 16, 2013, 01:36 PM EDT
If the Captain wants to choose another nationality/race, he may consider turning into a Latino. They are the wave of the future, whosse political strength in the U.S. will soon exceed that of all the European nationalities combined, including the Anglo-Saxons whose culture has for centuries been the dominent one in this cuntry.
CaptainCon | Mar 16, 2013, 11:14 AM EDT
Ha ha ha this is almost as good as Kate 'I'm a daughter of Brian Boru and an airline hostess, y'know' Middleton. Apparently I'm related to Genghis Khan and will be around in a minute on a shaggy pony to outline why I should be considered half-Irish and half Mongolian. I wonder does this mean Kate 'I'm as Irish as all get out' Middleton is also related to Genghis Khan as an apparent compatriot of mine? Ah lads.
Seanmor | Mar 16, 2013, 09:38 AM EDT
Thanks to Irish Central for this interesting piece of Church history. The merging of the Kilfirora Doiocese with another diocese remind me of 2 other small Munster dioceses of the 1600s that have since been combined with larged entities. One was the Diocese of Ross, which was united with the Diocese of Cork. In the late 1640s Bisho Egan of Ross was captured by the Cromwellians who wanted him to persuade the Irish forces to surrender, but the good bishop urgesd then to fight on. Then the Roundheads HANGED this Bishop. In Oct. of '1651 when Limerick fell to Cromwell's forces, Terence O'Brien of the Diocese of Emly, who had backed Hugh Dubh O'Neill and his 1,500 army of Ulstermen that held the city for 4½ months, was HANGED and his diocese was later merged with that of Cashel. (Bishop O'Brien was one of the 17 Irish martyrs who were beatified by the Pope in Sept., 1992).