By Patsy McGarry
Irish Times
July 13, 2011
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| Bishop John Magee: the only papal secretary ever to serve three popes |
Bishop John Magee (74) is from Newry, Co Down, and occupies a unique place in Catholic Church history, having been the only papal secretary ever to serve three popes.
Between 1969 and 1982 he was private secretary to Popes Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II.
Born on September 24th, 1936, he was one of seven children. In 1954 and after attending St Colman's College in Newry he entered the St Patrick's Missionary Society religious congregation, based at Kiltegan, Co Wicklow. During his first year there both his parents died.
In 1955 he began attending UCC, from where he graduated with an honours philosophy degree in 1958 before going to study theology in Rome, where he was ordained on St Patrick's Day 1962.
He worked on the missions in Nigeria for almost six years before being appointed Procurator General of the St Patrick's Society in Rome in 1968.
In 1969 he was appointed secretary to the Vatican 's Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, a position he held until he was appointed personal and private secretary to Pope Paul VI in 1975.
He accompanied Pope John Paul II on his visit to Ireland in 1979. In 1981 he visited Bobby Sands during the hunger strikes at the pope's request and in an unsuccessful attempt to bring them to an end.
In 1982 he was appointed Pope John Paul II's master of ceremonies, a position he held until his surprise appointment as Bishop of Cloyne in 1987.
In 1978 be was party to one of the more infamous white lies of the 20th century. It followed Pope John Paul I's death that year. In the consternation prompted by the death of the new pope, after just 33 days in office, the Vatican offered bewildering and contradictory accounts on who found the pope, as well as the time and cause of his death.
It issued a statement saying it was Bishop Magee who found Pope John Paul I, which was confirmed to The Irish Times in 1987 by Bishop Magee himself when he was ordained bishop in Rome
However, a year later, in September 1988, Bishop Magee confirmed the late pope was found by a nun. But Bishop Magee insisted "I did find the body of His Holiness. I just didn't find it first."
His posting to Cloyne from Rome in 1987 was a surprise. In Ireland it was speculated that he was being posted there as a stepping stone to becoming Archbishop of Armagh and Catholic Primate of All-Ireland.
In Cloyne Bishop Magee courted little controversy or publicity, bar one lengthy row over proposed renovation of St Colman's Cathedral in Cobh.
However, in December 2008 a report was published by the Catholic Church child protection watchdog, its National Board for Safeguarding Children, which revealed child protection policies in Cloyne diocese were "inadequate and in some respects dangerous".
In January 2009, announcing that the remit of the Murphy commission was being extended to include Cloyne diocese, then minister for children Barry Andrews disclosed that in 2005 and 2007 Bishop Magee had misled the State when he said the diocese complied with both church and State guidelines on child protection.
In March 2009 Bishop Magee announced he was standing aside from administrative duties in Cloyne to assist the Murphy Commission in its investigations. Rome announced that the Archbishop of Cashel Dermot Clifford had been appointed Apostolic Administrator to Cloyne diocese.
A year later, in March 2010, Dr Magee announced his resignation as Bishop of Cloyne.
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