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Irish Times
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
The last confession of ‘Disappeared' IRA man Joe Lynskey – a priest recalls, more than 50 years on
Father Sean McManus had little to say when he appeared before Resident Magistrate John W Adams in Enniskillen Court in September 1971, charged with obstructing the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Days before, the Redemptorist priest had attended an anti-internment rally in the Fermanagh town, subsequently swearing an affidavit that the RUC had badly beaten a protester. When the charge was read out, Fr McManus, then serving in Perth in Scotland, replied: 'I am not pleading at all. I am not recognising the court.' Fined £20, he left with his brother, Frank, a nationalist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, telling reporters outside that he would not pay it. READ MORE The incident brought him to the attention of the IRA 's leadership, which led the organisation's chief of staff, Sean Mac Stiofain, to meet him shortly afterwards in Navan, Co Meath. A year later, Fr McManus was back from Scotland to visit his family in Kinawley, Co Fermanagh, ahead of making his way to the United States on the direct orders of his church superiors. In the decades since, the strongly pro-republican Fr McManus has been a prominent figure in Irish-America as head of the Irish National Caucus, where he been a loud critic often of both the Irish and British governments as well as an active lobbyist on Irish and Irish-American interests. Fr Sean McManus at the US Capitol this week. Photograph: Marty Katz 'I was being 'transported' by the Church and [in effect] by the State because I would not 'give a solemn promise without equivocation or mental reservation' never again to criticise England's oppression of Ireland,' he told The Irish Times, speaking this week from his home in Washington DC. Within days of returning to Ireland, Mac Stiofain made contact with him to make a direct and unusual request, one that lives vividly in the memory of the still vigorous, strongly spoken 81-year-old priest. I spent about 20-30 minutes with Joe. He was very amiable. A nice man. He shook my hand saying goodbye. He thanked me warmly — Father Sean McManus Fr McManus had been invited by a family to spend a few days at their hotel in a Co Louth village. 'The first time ever that I stayed in a hotel,' the priest remembers. Once there, Mac Stiofain quickly got in touch. Joe Lynskey was one of 17 people abducted, killed and clandestinely dumped or buried by republicans Sending a driver to collect the priest, the two men met. 'He said one sentence to me, just one: one of our men wants to see a priest; would you go and see him? And I said, yes, I'll do that. 'I assumed that this man, whoever he was, was important, couldn't go out to church or be seen in case he was picked up, or whatever. And that's why he wanted someone to come to him.' A day later, he was picked up by two men, one of whom he now believes was killed more than two decades later by the Ulster Volunteer Force as he worked behind a newsagent's counter. The Sorrow and the Loss, by Martin Dillon, prompted Fr Sean McManus to reveal a secret held for 50 years The man he was to meet, though he did not yet know it, was former Cistercian monk Joe Lynskey . It would be almost four decades before the IRA admitted to Lynskey's killing, when he was included in the list of 'The Disappeared' – people who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during Northern Ireland's Troubles. Today, Fr McManus is careful not to conflate what he knew then with what he has learned since 2010 when the IRA finally acknowledged that the Belfast man was one of those secretly killed and buried. Fr McManus was not blindfolded, but he was told to close his eyes during the 30-minute journey. Today, he could not identify the house he was brought to. Even if he could, he would not identify it, he said. Once there, he found two men in the kitchen. The priest believes the men were aged in their 60s; they were relaxed, had no guns, and there were no signs of tension. 'One said: 'Hello Father.' The other said: 'Joe's up there on the right.'' Geoff Knupfer, former lead investigator of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains. Photograph: Arthur Allison, Pacemaker Press 'They were pottering about, making tea. All very normal, relaxed, pleasant, not a care in the world. I had absolutely no feeling of anything else. I didn't have the slightest feeling that he was a prisoner,' said Fr McManus. 'None of that, absolutely none of that. That's why years later, I was amazed when I read the truth that he had been killed.' Entering the small bedroom, Fr McManus met the casually dressed Lynskey: 'He stood up. He shook my hand. He said: 'How are ye, Father? Thanks for coming.' It was all perfectly normal,' the priest said. Fr McManus heard his Confession, which remains confidential. Today, he is careful repeatedly to make clear that it was a normal Confession, not a last Confession, or the last rites given to someone on the brink of death. Jon Hill, lead investigator of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire 'I spent about 20-30 minutes with Joe. He was very amiable. A nice man. He shook my hand saying goodbye. He thanked me warmly,' said Fr McManus. Leaving the house, the two men were still in the kitchen, still relaxed, still drinking tea. The 40-year-old Lynskey could easily have escaped, he believed, if he had wanted. Though Fr McManus did not know it, he had given Lynskey his final Confession because a court martial headed by Mac Stiofain had condemned him, says writer Martin Dillon. I have nothing to hide because I did my duty as a priest, which any priest would and should do when told someone wants to see a priest — Father Sean McManus Asked now if Lynskey knew he was to die, Fr McManus said: 'I'm not really in a position to say. All I know is that later I was amazed to think that he had been so completely relaxed, at ease, at peace.' A senior IRA intelligence officer who was involved in the paramilitary group from the foundation of the IRA, Lynskey had had an affair with the wife of an interned IRA volunteer. He subsequently tried to have the man killed. Leading IRA figure Brendan Hughes found out and sought a court-martial, despite Lynskey's high rank. He was taken south by another IRA member, Dolours Price, later jailed for the 1973 Old Bailey bombings. 'He sat in the rear, clutching a little overnight bag,' Dillon writes in his latest book, The Sorrow and the Loss. Lynskey tried to explain his actions, but Price did not want to hear. He made no attempt to escape. 'Nevertheless, she later felt a great deal of regret about leading a friend to his death,' writes Dillon, whose earlier book The Dirty War in 1988 revealed the IRA's policy of secret killings and burials. Looking back more than five decades, Fr McManus wonders at Lynskey's conduct: 'How could he have been so much at peace and calm and open and friendly and engaging? Everything was fine.' Over later years, he 'very occasionally' asked when he was back in Ireland if anyone knew Lynskey. [ Joe Lynskey remains are not those exhumed in Monaghan, tests show Opens in new window ] 'Nobody, nobody ever had heard of him. And I thought: 'Oh, good, because that means he's fine,' he told The Irish Times. The IRA told the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains about Fr McManus, which led its then lead investigator, Geoff Knupfer, to contact him eight years ago in Enniskillen. 'A very impressive man,' says the priest. 'The very first thing I said to him was: 'Geoff, was it British intelligence or the republican movement that told you I was the priest who heard Joe's Confession?' He answered immediately: 'The republican movement.' 'I said: 'Let me tell you upfront, there's very little I can tell you.' And he said: 'It's still important to meet.' And I said: 'Okay, fine'.' Father Sean McManus. Photo: Marty Katz/ Fr McManus sounds more surprised that the IRA had not told him that they were going to pass on his name than by the fact that they did. Last July, long-standing commission investigator Jon Hill, who took over from Knupfer, travelled to Washington to see him. Though he has no doubts but that the commission would honour confidentiality, he had decided that he should be the one to tell the story of his involvement. Responding to The Irish Times, the commission issued a short statement, saying, 'Given our very strict adherence to confidentiality we cannot comment on sources of information or who the commission engages with.' Fr McManus's final prompt to go public came after reading Martin Dillon's latest 'powerful, poignant' book, which displays 'great respect and sensitivity to all the victims', leading him to contact the New York-based journalist. [ 'It's an ongoing torture for the families,' says man leading search for North's Disappeared Opens in new window ] 'I wanted it to come from me, not someone else. I have nothing to hide because I did my duty as a priest, which any priest would and should do when told someone wants to see a priest,' said Fr McManus. Saying that he had been happy to co-operate with the commission, he cautioned that he had nothing more to add. 'Not because I don't want to do so, but because I don't know anything else. I had explained it fully previously,' he said. Near the end of their meeting, Hill asked the priest if he would meet Lynskey's niece, Maria, telling him that he believed 'she would get great comfort from meeting you and how he was at peace'. The two met in Ireland last August, he said. 'She said it brought some comfort, as Jon said it would,' said the priest. 'Of course, it would have brought back renewed pain too, as always. I was pleased to do it.'
ITV News
24-04-2025
- General
- ITV News
Saying goodbye with gratitude: Belfast peace-builder Rome bound for Pope's funeral
A Belfast-based peace-builder says it is a 'great blessing' that he is able to fly to Rome to say 'goodbye with much gratitude' at the funeral of Pope Francis. Ed Peterson is a lay-person who has been working in peace ministry at Clonard Monastery in west Belfast for two decades, and he has found the papacy of Pope Francis inspirational. 'I'm just so grateful that I'll have this opportunity to go to Rome to say that final goodbye with much gratitude to Pope Francis for his life and the impact he has had on me and my family and my work here in Clonard,' said Ed. Huge crowds are expected at the outdoor mass at 10am local time on Saturday, which will be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who is the dean of the College of Cardinals. Francis was a guiding light to Ed because a focus of his papacy was around work with other denominations, which very much aligns with Ed's job with the Redemptorist order. They are a Catholic order founded by St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori who wanted to help the 'most abandoned souls.' 'Both his desire for the unity of Christians and that work across all denominations of the church spoke to us very much here in Clonard, as well as his interfaith work and his friendships that he had, whether it be members of the Jewish community, the Muslim community. 'Probably for me his most inspirational writing was something called Fratelli Tutti, which is the Italian title of an encyclical that was basically saying that we are all sisters and brothers, and that began with a relationship that he had with the Muslim sultan and the friendship that they built and just about our common humanity. 'And it wasn't something that was written just for Catholics or even just for Christians. 'Pope Francis always seemed to have a wider vision that everybody was part of this, human family together and albeit he did that within his own Catholic Jesuit context, but he wanted everyone to feel part of this family together that he felt part of, whether they were from a particular religious viewpoint or faith viewpoint or or those maybe who are even humanists, atheists all I think would have felt a place at the table with Pope Francis.' Having met his wife in Rome, the Eternal City is a special place for the Petersons. They would have loved to have made the pilgrimage back together, but he said she has taken one for the team and is staying at home in Belfast so that he can go. 'I immediately was hopeful that maybe I could make it over, and I'm just so grateful that everything has worked out and that I will get to be there." By Thursday lunchtime, more than 60,000 people had stood in line for hours in St Peter's Square to make their way into the basilica to catch a glimpse of Francis's body, which is laid out in a simple, open coffin. Ed hopes to be able to file past, but knows it may not be possible due to the huge crowds. 'I know that I will be there on Saturday morning for his funeral mass, and just the honour to be there to give thanks to God for his life and how much that has meant to so many of us will be a great blessing for me.' Ed did get to meet Pope Francis after a member of the Jewish Community in Belfast told him she was going to a private audience at a conference, the International Council of Christians and Jews. He was able to go along and join the 150 strong delegation, and did get a handshake and a photo. 'I was able to bring greetings from the Redemptorist community here and just to thank him personally for all that he has meant to me,' he said. Ed will now head to Rome to share his gratitude once again, this time with millions of others sharing the same sentiment. In doing do he will witness a papal funeral like none before, as Francis said no to a lot of the traditional pomp and ceremony. He left instructions in which he asked to be buried in a simple underground tomb in Rome's papal basilica of Saint Mary Major. In his will, he wrote: 'I have always entrusted my life and priestly and episcopal ministry to the Mother of Our Lord, Mary Most Holy. 'Therefore, I ask that my mortal remains rest, awaiting the day of resurrection, in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. 'I wish that my final earthly journey conclude precisely in this ancient Marian shrine, where I go to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey… 'I ask that my tomb be prepared in the burial niche in the side nave between the Pauline Chapel and the Sforza Chapel of the aforementioned Papal Basilica, as indicated in the enclosed plan.
Irish Independent
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Cardinal with Kerry links among the potential successors to Pope
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who is currently serving as a Cardinal in Newark, is the son of Irish immigrants Joseph W Tobin and Marie Kerwin. He's noted as a powerful voice within the Church for the plight of immigrants, with his own background as the son of immigrants to the US deeply informing his approach. His family are understood to have links to Kerry and he has spoken about his grandmother's love of the Irish language and praying in the Irish language. Cardinal Tobin was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1952 and is the eldest of 13 children. He is a member of the Redemptorist order and was ordained in 1978. He was Archbishop of Indianapolis from 2012 to 2016 and he was appointed Archbishop of Newark in 2017. Pope Francis named Cardinal Tobin a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture in 2019 and a member of the Congregation for Bishops in 2021 – which is responsible for selecting bishops all over the world. This position was seen as a sign of Pope Francis's faith in him. He was also appointed to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in 2021 by Pope Francis. Vatican observers say that a liberal pope could be selected to deal with important issues in the church going forward including gay rights and the ordination of women – issues Cardinal Tobin has been outspoken about. He has criticised the Church for its treatment of the LGBT community and he has continuously advocated for more roles for women in the church. The new Pope will be voted in at conclave by Cardinals. Only Cardinals under the age of 80 will have a vote, so 135 out of 252 cardinals, will be able to vote for the new Pope. Cardinal Tobin faces stiff competition for the new role with several prominent names on the list of potential successors. American media have listed him as a potential candidate given his more liberal views along the lines of Pope Francis.
ABC News
23-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Australia-based cardinal Mykola Bychok will join the conclave to elect a new pope
As the cardinals of the Catholic church gather in Rome to elect a new Holy Father following the death of Pope Francis, one interesting Australian connection will be among them. Ukrainian-born Bishop Mykola Bychok, who at age 45 is the youngest member of the Sacred College of Cardinals, works in Melbourne and is the first Australia-based cardinal since George Pell. He will be eligible to apply for Australian citizenship this year. "As Christians we celebrate death believing in the mercy and love of God, especially in this time of Holy Pascha [Easter] when celebrating Christ's conquering 'Death by Death' by His resurrection," he wrote, after the news broke of the Pope's death. Bychok, was "When I was raised to the College of Cardinals, I asked the Holy Father to pray for Ukraine, to help free stolen Ukrainian children and to pray for me in my new mission as an Australian-Ukrainian cardinal," he wrote on Monday. "I now pray, that Pope Francis may intercede before Christ for the people of Australia and Ukraine and that God may grant me the grace to live my mission as a cardinal of the Catholic Church." There are now 252 cardinals of the Catholic church. Only 139, made up of those under 80 years old, including Bychok, will be eligible to vote in the conclave to elect a new Pope. Bychok had been travelling to Israel at the time of the Pope's death but said he would travel to Rome as soon as possible for the funeral and conclave He told Quick rise through the church Bychok has been based in Melbourne since January 2020 and was consecrated as a bishop a few months later. He is Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — one of the largest Bychok's rise through the Catholic church's ancient hierarchies has been swift. He was born in Ukraine's western city of Ternopil, not far from Lviv which became the country's de facto capital following Russia's 2021 invasion but has since also been Bychok was a religious child. As a 15-year-old alter boy he decided to Photo shows A cardinal wearing cardinal robes standing next to a statue inside an old building in the Vatican. The Ukrainian-born missionary says he aims to be a cardinal who is "flexible, holy, accessible and without eminence". Charnetsky was a member of the Redemptorist order, founded in 1732 to work among neglected country people around Naples in Italy. The order continues to focus on working with the poor and isolated. Membership of the order is reflected in the identifier CSsR, which stand for Congregation Sanctissimi Redemptoris, or Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Bychok is also a Redemptorist, and uses the CSsR after his name. In 2001 he moved to Poland where he wrote his masters' thesis on working with youth groups. He was ordained in July 2004 as a deacon, the first of the church's six ranks that include priest, bishop, archbishop, cardinal and pope. In 2005 Bychok became a priest and moved to Russia where he worked in the Siberian city of Prokopyevsk. After returning to Ukraine in 2007 Bychok spent the next eight years working primarily in the towns and cities around Lviv. In 2015 he moved to New Jersey in the US where he was vicar of the Ukrainian Catholic parish of Saint John the Baptist in Newark. He was appointed to Melbourne in 2020. Unusual choice for cardinal The announcement Bychok had been chosen as a cardinal was unexpected. In selecting a young and relatively unknown bishop, Pope Francis bypassed high-profile Catholic leaders in Australia including Anthony Fisher, the Archbishop of Sydney, and Peter Comensoli, Archbishop of Melbourne. Most members of the College of Cardinals are in their 70s. The oldest nominated as a Cardinal in the group of 21 that included Bychok, was aged 99. Their role is to provide advice to the Pope on how to run the church. Bychok's selection has been viewed by many as an attempt by Pope Francis to make the Catholic church's leadership more geographically diverse by avoiding bureaucrats and church officials. Bychok wore a traditional black headdress at the ceremony to appoint him, reflecting the culture of the Mykola Bychok was elevated to cardinal at a ceremony at the Vatican. ( ABC News: Adrian Wilson ) The Catholic church is divided into six rites that reflect the liturgical tradition of the Eastern Church, and include the Latin Rite which governs the Roman Catholic Church based in Rome. Others include the Alexandrian Rite, that overseas the Coptic Catholic Church and others, as well as the West Syrian or Antiochene Rite that includes the Maronite Catholic Church. The appointment of Bychok as Cardinal is also seen as an attempt to break from the past — not only with a focus on youth and diversity but to create distance between Australia and Cardinal George Pell who was acquitted of child sexual abuse charges before his death in 2023, but left a
RTÉ News
22-04-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Mayo woman recalls honour of meeting Pope Francis in Knock
A Mayo woman has recalled being given the special honour of welcoming Pope Francis to Knock Airport when he visited Ireland in 2018. The 88-year-old pontiff died yesterday after a cerebral stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure, the Vatican said. His funeral will take place on Saturday. Mary McCarthy, from Charlestown, Co Mayo, was given the special honour of welcoming Pope Francis to Knock Airport in 2018. Speaking on RTÉ's Oliver Callan programme, she said that she could not believe her family were chosen, and enjoyed shaking hands with him and greeting him. The pontiff visited Ireland for two days in August 2018, which included a visit to Knock, a meeting with victims of clerical abuse, and a visit to a homeless centre run by the Capuchin order. Ms McCarthy explained that he gave her family rosary beads and that asked them to pray for him, but he was not preaching in his approach. "He seemed like a man that was just like us. There was a great aura about him about him, of peace and joy." She said that she took peace in the fact that he died over Easter, and he pushed himself to say goodbye to everyone. "I think he will be a Saint in time," she added. Survivors of abuse 'painted a picture for Pope' Speaking on RTÉ's Oliver Callan programme, survivor of clerical abuse, former Independent councillor Damian O'Farrell, who met Pope Francis in 2018, said he was wary about attending at the beginning, due to trauma. He said that the survivors of abuse painted a picture for the Pope in telling him what they had gone through in terms of the depravity and cruelty and what they endured. "He wasn't aware of the Magdelene laundries at all, and he was ashamed. He hadn't been briefed and he was disappointed and embarrassed about that. He knew it was bad form on his behalf," said Mr O'Farrell. He said that the meeting made them see the Pope as a human being, and that he was competing to be in charge among traditionalists and had a limited time in leadership. "There's a lot more to do but he brought the baton further than any Pope before him, but possibly not far enough," added Mr O'Farrell. Francis introduced a sense of openness, says Redemptorist priest Speaking on the same programme, Fr Tony Flannery, a member of the Redemptorist congregation, said that Pope Francis brought an enormous freedom to the church in terms of being able to speak your mind without fear. He said that Pope Francis changed the atmosphere and introduced a sense of openness. "He did as much as I could have possibly have hoped from him. I don't hold anything against him, quite the opposite." In 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith instructed the Redemptorist authorities to remove Fr Flannery indefinitely from his priestly ministry. The redemptorist priest was silenced by the Vatican for publicly expressing support for women's ordination and same-sex marriage, as well as liberal views on homosexuality. Fr Flannery said that if it had not been 2012 and had been more modern times, this would not have happened but he did not hold it against Pope Francis for not intervening in his case. Varadkar praises Pope Francis for reaching out to gay community Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar praised Pope Francis for reaching out to the LGBT+ community, saying it made him feel "more comfortable" going to church services. Mr Varadkar, who was taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and again from 2022 to 2024, met Francis during the Pope's visit to Ireland in 2018. The former Fine Gael leader introduced his partner, Matt, to the Pope during their meeting. In 2023, Francis stated that laws criminalising homosexuality were "unjust" and that "being homosexual isn't a crime". Speaking on Today with Philip Boucher Hayes, Mr Varadkar said: "I think the way he reached out to groups like ours, like LGBT people, did matter and certainly made me feel more comfortable going to church services," Mr Varadkar said. "One thing he did, which I think was significant, was he spoke out against criminalisation of gay and lesbian people. "In Ireland, it's easy to forget that while there are 30 countries where gay people can get married, there are 70 where it's still a crime. "For the Pope to speak out against that in places like Africa, is actually a real significance - and bear in mind, at the moment, in politics around the world there are people who claim that God is on their side while they try to reduce the rights of LGBT people, while they try to treat migrants badly, while they try to deny climate action. "Having a pope, the head of the largest Christian church, saying that refugees should be sheltered, saying that our planet was sick and that we needed to act to save it, saying that LGBT people should not be criminalised - that that did matter. "I do hope that [his] successor is of a similar mind," added Mr Varadkar. Pope was not afraid to go against the current - Senator In a statement, Senator Rónán Mullen said: "I had the honour of meeting Pope Francis on numerous occasions when attending the annual Catholic legislators' network meeting in Rome. "In recent years I was deeply impressed by his generosity and self-giving as he insisted on meeting all present even when he was clearly tired and struggling. "I recall his words on one occasion when we met: 'Andate contro il corrente' (Go against the current). Pope Francis practised what he preached. He was not afraid to go against powerful currents of opinion when fidelity to the Gospel was at stake. "His unambiguous championing of the dignity of every human life from its beginning to the natural end, his love for the poor and those 'on the peripheries' in every way, his emphasis on God's tender mercy and his concern for all of creation, will continue to inspire and challenge us all," he added.
