The Kilfenora Conclave

Cardinals gather to elect a new Bishop

Cardinals have arrived in Rome for next week’s Conclave

There’s a village in North Clare clinging to Catholicism, under the directorship of a Co Mayo priest named Fr Ned.

Kilfenora provided the on-location scenes for much of the infamous TV series Father Ted. It is less well known for it’s historical and canonical ties to the Pope.

Il Papa himself, when the white smoke emerges, will hold the title of Bishop of Kilfenora. But while the conclave gets underway in the Vatican this week, Kilfenora is not without an acting Bishop. That’s because during the 18^th Century, it was officially determined that while the Pope would retain the nominal title of Bishop of Kilfenora, a Vicar Apostolic would run the diocese in his name.

The term Vicar Apostolic is explained below by Wikipedia but for those whose eyes are glazing over already, suffice to say, Kilfenora is an anomaly. And anomalies are always interesting.

An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The hope is that the region will generate sufficient numbers of Catholics for the Church to create a diocese one day.

The current Vicar Apostolic of Kilfenora is Bishop Michael Duignan.

He is also the Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh. This dual appointment, is known as "in persona episcopi" a Latin phrase that means, in the person of the Bishop.

This High Cross sits in a field by the roadside on the western outskirts of Kilfenora

The drive to Kilshanny from Kilfenora, brings one past a number of High Crosses, clearly marking this region as an important ecclesiastical site many centuries before the Vicar Apostolate was established.

“Kilfenora, a historic village in County Clare, Ireland, is renowned for its rich ecclesiastical heritage, earning it the title "City of the Crosses" due to its notable collection of high crosses. The village is home to several significant churches that reflect its spiritual and architectural history,” ChatGPT says of the village.

How did this curious little enclave in the Burren become the geographical domain of the Pope?

Upon its established at the Synod of Kells in 1152, the Diocese of Kilfenora was one of the smallest and least resourced in Ireland, according to Chat GPT. Apparently, it’s limited size and resources made it challenging to sustain an independent bishopric. In 1750, Pope Benedict XIV united Kilfenora with the Diocese of Kilmacduagh, introducing an arrangement where the bishop would alternately serve as the ordinary of one diocese and apostolic administrator of the other.

I’ve written previously about the attending Holy Mass in a Country Church – I think it’s really important we Catholics do this, because that privilege is disappearing fast. Fr Ned in Kilfenora, is in now in his 80’s, yet still ministering to his parish with daily mass, baptisms, funerals, last rites and all his other resnsibilities.

Most recently, he produced and directed a play written by Kerry playwright Tom Coffey, titled “Them” with Kilfenora Dramatic Society which ran for three sell-out nights at the local hall. The play teaches the audience that while we love to blame others for everything, more often the problem is us.

Fr Ned says mass most mornings at St Fachtna’s Church in Kilfenora, situated on Cathedral Road.

Chat GPT doesn’t mention it, but the church is called St Fachta’s because the present village of Kilfenora evolved from the monastic site founded by the saint himself in 560. The parish is situated in the Barony of Corcomroe on the edge of the Burren.

Corcomroe is the site of 12^th Century Cistercian Abbey, the remains of which are still intact. The site is renowned for its unusual and perhaps rebellious blend of Romanesque and early Gothic architecture, which marked this place for it’s deliberately ornamental architecture at at time when Cistercian style was more austere.

Corcomroe was important for its farming methods and ethos of self-sufficiency.

Connor Roe (na-Siudine) the son of Donough O’Brien, King of Thomond was a major benefactor to the Abbey and his tomb, situated in the ruins, is well worth a visit. He was killed in 1267-8, following an almighty battle rooted in power struggles in which he attempted to enforce his authority over some rebellious local chiefs. His effigy remains one of the finest examples of Irish medieval sculpture, which makes Corcomroe both a religious and dynastic tribal memorial.

Irish history, especially monastic history, is fascinating, given that so little of it known and preserved and yet, the same history gave rise to the Book of Kells.

But look how Chat GPT skips through the entire monastic history of Corcomroe and Kilfenora:

• The Diocese of Kilfenora, located in County Clare, Ireland, was a small and sparsely populated diocese.

• Historically, it was established in the early medieval period, likely at the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111, which organized the diocesan structure in Ireland.

• Over time, due to its small size and limited resources, Kilfenora struggled to sustain a fully independent bishopric.

No mention of Corcomroe, Chat GPT skips from the 12^th Century through to the 18^th Century:

• “In the 18th century, the Catholic Church determined that Kilfenora would no longer have its own diocesan bishop.

  • Instead, it was decided that:

    • The Pope himself would hold the title of Bishop of Kilfenora.

    • A Vicar Apostolic (later an Apostolic Administrator) would administer the diocese on his behalf.”

That’s 600 years of missing history.

Having written an entire article under this heading, I must now inform readers there is in fact, no such thing as The Kilfenora Conclave. I will now disappoint readers further by admitting I haven’t a clue who the next Pope will be.

I was in Medjugorje for Easter as my last post described. We were at a morning prayer meeting when the news of the Pope’s death emerged. One lady burst into tears but other than that, the response around the village was somber and fairly muted.

Medjugorje has never been officially recognised as an apparition site by the Vatican.

Departing my homestay I had a quick chat about the Pope’s death in broken English with my host. He explained that the retired of Bishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljić will lead the opening prayers of the Conclave session to elect the next pope.

Cardinal Puljić is a Bosnian Croat, one of 13 children who grew up in faith and poverty near a Trappist monastery in Bosnia Hercegovina.

He holds ‘conservative views’ according to this bio.

He was consecrated as Archbishop by Pope John Paul II on January 6 1991 and as such, his tenure coincided with the collapse of Communism in the former Yugoslavia, the vicious and bloody war that made famous placenames such as Mostar and Srebrenica.

The Bosnian Cardinal is known to have worked tirelessly to bring peace to war-torn former Yugoslavia and help (actual) refugees fleeing the conflict.

Cardinal Puljić is the longest-serving cardinal entitled to vote in the current College of Cardinals. He participated in the elections of Benedict XVI in 2005 and Francis in 2013. He turns eighty this year and is currently unwell and because of this, he will reside at the Santa Marta guesthouse during the conclave.In accordance with rules of the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, he will cast his vote from his room rather than joining his fellow cardinals in the Sistine Chapel.

News stories about him report that he may ‘slow down’ the Conclave Vote.

Here’s how:

“Under conclave procedures, cardinals who are too ill to be physically present in the Sistine Chapel are still eligible to vote. For each ballot, three designated cardinals, known as infirmarii (infirmaries), leave the chapel to collect the sick cardinals’ vote. They carry a locked box for the ballot, which is then returned unopened to the scrutineers for counting. This process must be repeated for every round of voting, which typically occurs up to four times per day.”

The process of the Conclave is quite fascinating.

It makes me think of a book by David Yallop published 1984, about a Pope who’s reign lasted just 33 days, before his death in unusual circumstances.

In God's name: an investigation into the murder of Pope John Paul I told the story of ‘The Smiling Pope,’ who became hugely popular in his first days of the papacy due to his preference for pastoral simplicity over papal prestige. His death in 1978, stunned the world.

The book argues that the Pope had uncovered suspicious activity within the Vatican bank and planned to expose it.

The author, a British investigative journalist, presented the case that Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani) did not die of natural causes (as officially claimed) but was murdered as part of a complex web of freemasonry, corruption, intrigue, and cover-ups within the Vatican.

The Vatican did themselves no favours either, by deliberately fudging the details in which the dead Pope’s body was found. The book was a riveting read and a bestseller.

Yallop investigated and presented a complex web of information that linked the Pope’s untimely death to figures at the Vatican bank, a major Italian bank and its chairman Roberto Calvi (who later died under mysterious circumstances), a banker with mafia ties and the Masonic Lodge ‘P2’ - a secretive and illegal organization tied to political and financial elites.

One curious anomaly regarding the Pope’s death was that no post-mortem took place. The Observer journalist, John Cornwell investigated Yallop’s assertions thoroughly and reported what he claimed to be a ‘bombshell discovery’ through the late Pope’s niece Lina Petri, a doctor who told him the Pope had been in poor health, taking warfarin, for none other than....blood clots.

“She told me, moreover, that she believed he stopped taking his medicine the day he became Pope. It is well known that blood thinning medicines must be taken constantly otherwise the blood becomes thicker than it was before starting the treatment,” Cornwell wrote.

I have honestly no idea of the depth of depravity circulating in global financial and religious circles but I did find it interesting that the Irish government declined to lower the Irish flag to half-mast when Pope Francis died. The tricolour was lowered on the day of his funeral, in keeping with government protocol. It is notable that in September 2022, the Irish flag was lowered on the day of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, not just the day of her funeral.

On the day of my departure from Medjugorje last year, I asked an experienced guide why Ireland is a particular target for the EU, given current levels of illegal immigration facilitated by billions in payments to hotel owners across the country.

He said the targeting of Ireland is due to the nature of the Irish Constitution. In particular, because of the special place Ireland’s Constitution holds for God.

For those unaware, here is the wording of the introduction to the 1937 Bunreacht:

“In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred,

We, the people of Éire,

Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial,

Gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle to regain the rightful independence of our Nation,

And seeking to promote the common good, with due observance of Prudence, Justice and Charity, so that the dignity and freedom of the individual may be assured, true social order attained, the unity of our country restored, and concord established with other nations,

Do hereby adopt, enact, and give to ourselves this Constitution.”

Official protocol states the Irish flag is lowered to ‘bestow an honour and express a collective sense of sorrow.’

The Department of An Taoieach opted to lower the flag only on the day of the Pope’s funeral. Referring back to the first line of Bunreacht na hÉireann, technically this country’s allegiance and obligations are to ‘Our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial.’

The Taoiseach’s role is advisory, according to government protocol, which states:

“On the death of a national or international figure, the National Flag is flown at half-mast on all prominent government buildings equipped with a flag pole, under advice from the Department of An Taoiseach.”

The Pope is the Catholic Church’s ‘Vicar of Christ,’ the representative of Jesus Christ on Earth.

To whom has the current government a closer allegiance then, the Pope or the Queen?

As a Catholic I’ll be praying for the Conclave in the same way I pray for most things, seeking serenity, acceptance, wisdom and courage. So here’s my prayer for the Conclave process, in the hopes that Kilfenora will acquire a humble and holy new Bishop, I pray for the intercession of the Holy Spirit:

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