PAPAL APPOINTMENTS: It was business as normal for the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, yesterday as he attended to confirmations and funerals while speculation elsewhere shifted from expectation that he was to receive a red hat to wondering how he felt when he did not, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
The archbishop himself had not expected to be nominated to the college of cardinals by Pope Benedict when he announced his first consistory yesterday. At a function in Dublin on Tuesday night Dr Martin made it clear he would be "very surprised" if he was named a cardinal yesterday,
Speaking to The Irish Times last night he said he was aware of the speculation about him receiving the red hat "especially outside Ireland" but pointed out that there were already two cardinals on the island and that having three in Ireland would be "a lot".
Both of Ireland's cardinals - Cardinal Cahal Daly and Cardinal Desmond Connell - also remained active, he pointed out. Besides, at 60, he believed he was himself "too young" for nomination to the college of cardinals.
On continuing speculation over when he would receive such a nomination, he said he had made a decision not to allow it "interfere with what I do". He also believed this was an approach being adopted by the Catholic primate, Archbishop Seán Brady - another Irishman tipped to receive a red hat in the future.
On commentary that he was appointed to Dublin for a limited period and would then return to a senior position at the Vatican, Archbishop Martin said that when he took on any job he had "no way of knowing for how long" he would be left there.
His approach, always, was to get on with the job wherever he was. It was what he had done at Geneva, for example, where he had been the Vatican's permanent representative at the UN before being appointed as coadjutor archbishop of Dublin in 2003. He became archbishop on the retirement of Cardinal Connell as archbishop of Dublin in April 2004.
Reflecting on the 15 names announced by Pope Benedict yesterday, he expressed surprise that the Paris archdiocese was not included. He also noted that the three new curial cardinals were all heads of Vatican congregations and wondered whether this indicated a return to an older practice whereby heads of councils at the Vatican were not necessarily nominated to the college of cardinals.