(Photo courtesy Paul Haring, Catholic News Service)
Today, in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Dublin priest Monsignor Paul Tighe was ordained a bishop by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State.
Please see below the statement of congratulations from Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland:
On behalf of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference I warmly congratulate Bishop Paul Tighe on his episcopal ordination today as titular Bishop of Drivastrum. On this holy occasion I offer Bishop Tighe my good wishes as he prepares to take on his new, important and challenging ministry. As well as being a day of new beginnings, this is also a very happy time for Bishop Tighe’s family members, friends, fellow priests and colleagues. He brings to his new role a wealth of pastoral experience as: a lecturer in Moral Theology, a parish chaplain, director of the Communications and Public Affairs Office of the Archdiocese of Dublin and, more recently, as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
Bishop Tighe possesses many gifts including a strong pastoral outlook, a fine theological mind and is a communicator par excellence. Last November in Maynooth we were fortunate to benefit from his insight and universal Church experience when he delivered the keynote address ‘The Church in a Digital World – Sharing The Good News’ on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Catholic Communications Office. I am confident that he will do excellent work in his new role as Adjunct Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
I wish Bishop Tighe every blessing in the years to come and assure him of my prayerful support.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin has also congratulated Bishop Paul Tighe on his episcopal ordination. Paying tribute to the newly ordained Bishop Tighe, Archbishop Martin said he was a person of kindness and integrity, whose contribution to life of the Universal Church, particularly in social communications, was widely respected. He said that, together with the priests of the Archdiocese, he wished Bishop Tighe every blessing in his ministry in the years to come and assured him of our prayers.
Archbishop Martin and several priests from the Archdiocese of Dublin concelebrated and many friends and family, travelled to Rome for the occasion.
Bishop Tighe was appointed titular Bishop of Drivastrum and Adjunct Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture by Pope Francis last December.
Bishop Paul Tighe was born on the 12 February 1958. He attended the De La Salle Primary School, Navan, and completed his secondary education at Summerhill College, Sligo. He graduated from University College Dublin in 1979 with a degree in Civil Law. Having studied for the priesthood at Holy Cross College, Dublin, and at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1983. His first appointment was as parish chaplain and teacher in Ballyfermot. Subsequently, he was assigned to study Moral Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. In 1990, he was appointed as a lecturer in Moral Theology at the Mater Dei Institute of Education in Dublin and at Holy Cross College. He was appointed head of the Theology Department in 2000. In 2004, he was named as Director of the Communications Office of Dublin Diocese. In 2005, he established the Office for Public Affairs. In January of 2007 he was appointed Chaplain to His Holiness with the title Very Reverend Monsignor. In November of that year Pope Benedict announced his appointment as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. In January 2008 he was appointed Prelate of Honour, receiving the title Right Reverend Monsignor.
Newly ordained Bishop Paul Tighe, a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, greets the faithful during his ordination to the episcopate in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 27, 2016. (Photo courtesy Paul Haring, Catholic News Service)
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin blesses newly ordained Bishop Paul Tighe, a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, during his ordination to the episcopate in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 27, 2016. (Photo courtesy Paul Haring, Catholic News Service)
