Shake-up in leadership of Pontifical Irish College in Rome

May 11, 2012

The Pontifical Irish College in Rome has announced a shift in leadership, with 3 of the institution’s 4 top officials leaving. The change comes in the wake of an apostolic visitation that saw a need for a stronger commitment to orthodox Catholic instruction.

The Vatican-authorized investigation into Irish seminary training, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan on New York, emphasized that the intellectual formation of young Irish clerics should be “in full conformity with the Church’s magisterium.” The apostolic visitation reported “a certain tendency, not dominant but nevertheless fairly widespread among priests, religious and laity, to hold theological opinions at variance with the teachings of the magisterium.”

The Pontifical Irish College, established in the 17th century, provides training in Rome for some of Ireland’s most promising young priests and seminarians. Earlier this year a series of reforms were announced for the Irish national seminary at Maynooth. Those changes, designed to encourage more rigorous spiritual formation of candidates for the priesthood, were also introduced as a response to the apostolic visitation.

 

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Further information:

• Irish College in Rome changes staff after apostolic visitation (CNA)
• Irish seminary to separate students from university community (CWN, 1/11)