AN E-MAIL sent recently to Ireland’s 28 Catholic bishops invited them to each make a €500 personal contribution to a farewell gift for departing papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza.When asked to confirm whether the amount suggested was €500, a spokesman for the bishops said the “bishops have been invited to contribute towards a farewell gesture for Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza”.
The bishops, including auxiliary bishops, are expected to attend an evening prayer service at St Patrick’s College Maynooth this Sunday evening with the departing nuncio.
The event is being organised at the bishops’ initiative to mark his leaving for a new posting in the Czech Republic.
The spokesman for the bishops said this was “normal procedure for an outgoing apostolic nuncio”.
He said the prayer service “is a private initiative of the bishops and is not hosted by St Patrick’s College Maynooth”.
Archbishop Leanza has been in Ireland since April 2008, following the announcement of his appointment here in February of that year.
He was twice called to meetings with ministers for foreign affairs following publication of the Murphy report in November 2009 and publication of the Cloyne report in July of this year.
He declined to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs in February 2010.
Following Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s Dáil speech on the Cloyne report on July 20th last, Archbishop Leanza was recalled to Rome for consultation.
Some days later it was announced he was being appointed papal nuncio to the Czech Republic.
He is currently undertaking a round of farewells to Ireland, notably to President Mary McAleese last Monday.