Under-fire Walsh still eligible to run the diocese
IF for any reason Archbishop Diarmuid Martin became incapacitated, his senior auxiliary bishop, Eamonn Walsh, would take charge of the Dublin diocese.
This would happen automatically under church canon law even though Archbishop Martin has made it clear that Bishop Walsh should take the responsible step of resigning office in the light of criticisms made in the Murphy report of his handling of clerical child sex abuse cases.
According to Code 404.3 of canon law: "If the diocesan bishop is wholly impeded, it is sufficient that the auxiliary bishop shows his apostolic letters of appointment to the college of consultors in the presence of the chancellor of the curia."
- John Cooney
Irish Independent
