Silenced priest receives global support

The Irish priest muzzled by the Vatican for his liberal views has received overwhelming support from colleagues worldwide, with a senior member of the Irish Redemptorist order saying liberal priests are being subjected to FBI-like attention from ultra-orthodox “Catholic agents”.

Fr Adrian Egan, who heads the order’s Mount St Alphonsus monastery in Limerick, went on radio in Limerick yesterday to deliver a stinging attack on the Vatican.

Speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Redemptorists, he described himself as “dismayed, disappointed, flabbergasted, amazed, and hugely disappointed at the action by the Vatican”.