Cardinal Brady looking forward to retirement

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady, the leader ofthe Catholic Church in Ireland.

The senior churchman, whose final years as a clerical leader were dogged byabuse scandals, announced plans to step down on age grounds last month after turning 75, the standard retirement age in the church.

Archbishop Eamon Martin will take over the role as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland — the 116th man to fill the role.

“I am looking forward to retirement and, no doubt, it will take me some timeto get used to it, but it will be good to have more time for family, friends andto follow the football,” Cardinal Brady said.

The churchman faced repeated calls over the last few years from clerical sexabuse survivors to stand down. Last month, Pope Francis promised to hold bishops accountable for the protection of children and begged forgiveness from victims after he celebrated a Mass withsix survivors at the Vatican.

One of the six, Marie Kane, said she asked the pontiff to remove Cardinal Brady from his post because of the way he handled abuse allegations.

In a farewell message, Cardinal Brady said he recalled the Pope’s motto ‘miserando atque eligendo’ meaning ‘by having mercy, by choosing him’, which he said “challenges and inspires me with itsmessage of God having mercy and at the same time choosing us, despite our sinfulness”.

“It reminds me that I too need to say sorry and to ask forgiveness. And I doso again, now,” Cardinal Brady said.

“At the same time, Pope Francis’s motto inspires me to trust in the mercy ofGod and to pray for the strength to do always as Jesus would have me do.”

Cardinal Brady was heavily criticised for swearing two victims of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth to secrecy during an internal church inquiry in 1975 into the abuse of two children.

Their evidence was never handed over to the gardaí, allowing Smyth to continue abusing children before he was finally jailed in 1994.

Last December, an inquiry by church watchdog the National Board forSafeguarding Children said Cardinal Brady made a ”commendable decision to gather and document whatever information was available” about abuse allegations in his own archdiocese on taking up his role as Primate of All Ireland in 1996.

At the time he said he was truly sorry for the suffering of victims.

Although he has also apologised to the victims of Smyth, he previously said he would not resign over the affair.

His successor, Archbishop Martin, is a 52-year-old Derry-born former teacher, who was named as Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh early in 2013.

In 2010, at the height of pressure on Cardinal Brady over his handling of the Smyth case, he asked Pope Benedict to ease his workload by appointing a coadjutor bishop in the Archdiocese of Armagh.

Archbishop Martin was only formally put in place as assistant 16 months ago.

The clerics made statements after Mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh yesterday morning. The Archbishop described his predecessor as a gentle and humble man who is never fully comfortable in the limelight.

“This is not just my day. It is a day for us to recognise the years of service which you have given to the Church in Armagh and beyond,” said Archbishop Martin adding that his appointment was an honour.

Archbishop Martin has also served as a member of the Catholic Bishops’ Joint Bioethics Committee and a director of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.