Article says bar remains on Dr Casey

Bishop Eamonn Casey has yet to be given permission to return to Ireland by the Congregation of Bishops in Rome, according to an article in Ceide magazine.

Written by Ceide's manager, Father Brendan Hoban, it says:

"The Congregation of Bishops has heretofore stipulated that Casey cannot retire to either Ireland or England." It seems, however, the body has no objection to Dr Casey extending his missionary role in Ecuador when his current arrangement expires this May.

It seems further, Father Hoban writes, that "what the Congregation, in the early part of 1997, seems to have had in mind [for Dr Casey] was retirement in the United States with the agreement of the religious authorities of the area in which Casey would reside."

Father Hoban says, however, there is no evidence the Rome body has moved from its early 1997 position.

He believes forcing Dr Casey to retire to the US not only seems unfair but would be "a recipe for a continuous stream of tabloid publicity."

Meanwhile, The Irish Times has learned that Dr Casey has been suffering frequent bronchial and kidney infections in recent years in San Miguel de los Bancos, where he serves as a priest.

It has also been learned that, because of a fear by church authorities about the publicity his presence might attract, he was unable to attend his sister's funeral in 1995 and a nephew's funeral last year, and he has been unable to visit another sister who has been ill for some time.

It is widely acknowledged that Dr Casey has always had a particularly close relationship with his large family, 10 in number. He is also understood to have great affection for his 44 nieces and nephews.