The bishop of Limerick Dr Dónal Murray is in Rome today to discuss his future and it is expected he will offer his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI over the coming days.
With tomorrow a public holiday in Italy it now appears more likely that he will resign on Wednesday.
In a brief statement today Pope Benedict XVI said he has invited Cardinal Sean Brady and Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, to a meeting on Friday to provide “information and an evaluation” following the publication of the Murphy report.
The men are also due to have a meeting with the Vatican’s Congregation of Bishops, which oversees the appointment or resignation of bishops.
Calls have been made for Bishop Murray’s resignation since the publication of the Dublin diocesan report which criticised his handling of complaints against clergymen who were later found to have been involved in the sexual abuse of children.
The pressure increased on Bishop Murray on Saturday when Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady said he was confident Bishop Murray “would do the right thing”.
He went on to say that he would resign himself if a child had been abused as a result of a failure on his part. “I would remember that child sex abuse is a very serious crime and very grave and if I found myself in a situation where I was aware that my failure to act had allowed or meant that other children were abused, well then, I think I would resign,” he told RTÉ.
On RTÉ's The Week in Politicslast night, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin expressed his "deep disappointment" at the lack of a response by Pope Benedict to the Dublin diocesan report. "The pope has not responded yet to the appalling revelations of the Murphy inquiry."
The papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, has been asked to visit the department this week to explain why there had been no response from the nunciature to correspondence from the commission
“I think we will be pointing out that we need such a substantive response,” Mr Martin added, “and it is the view of the Irish Government that there has to be co-operation . . . not just with the investigation into Dublin but also the Cloyne diocese,” which is ongoing.