Edward Daly: An accidental bishop who disliked the limelight
‘Bloody Sunday changed my life in every way’ said Dr Daly, whose stroke liberated him
Archive footage from Bloody Sunday in Derry, January 30th 1972, showing former Bishop of Derry Dr Edward Daly as he helped victims of the shootings. Video: Reuters
Bishop Edward Daly did not enjoy being a bishop, a position he held in Derry diocese from 1974 for 20 years. “The multiplicity of meetings was a huge burden,” along with the comparative lack of pastoral contact with people, he said. He has died aged 82.
In fact he believed he would never have been Bishop of Derry but for Bloody Sunday, and those pictures of him broadcast all over the world as he waved a bloodied handkerchief while tending to the dead and dying that January day in 1972 when 13 people were shot dead by members of the British army Parachute Regiment.