A priest of the Dublin archdiocese has been appointed by Pope Benedict to one of the most senior Vatican council positions.
Msgr Paul Tighe (49), currently director of the Office for Public Affairs in the diocese, is to become secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
He will be deputy to council president Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli.
The Council for Social Communications is responsible for the church's dealings with the media on an international level and is currently being restructured.
Msgr Tighe is from Navan, Co Meath, and graduated with a degree in law from UCD in 1979.
He was ordained in 1983 and served in Ballyfermot before studying at the Gregorian University in Rome from 1984 to 1990.
He lectured in moral theology first at Clonliffe and currently at the Mater Dei Institute in Dublin.
In 2004 he was appointed by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to set up an office for public affairs.
It monitors public debates, policy formation and legal developments concerning healthcare, immigration, bioethics, education and family issues.
It also formulates and presents church perspectives on those issues while maintaining contact with other stakeholders and interest groups.
He also restructured the diocesan communications office and worked with director of communications Annette O'Donnell in dealing with local, national and international media.
He also oversaw a relaunch of the diocesan website.
Making the announcement to media yesterday, Archbishop Martin described Msgr Tighe as "a priest of great competence".
He continued: "You all know Paul. You know his ability, his thoughtfulness, his theological and legal formation. I can speak very highly of his media ability, since his training came on the ground from those journalists who are here this morning. If he does things well in the Vatican, you can take some of the credit. If he does less well, I will say it was you who trained him in."
Msgr Tighe spoke of his surprise, which had "yielded to excitement", on getting the news.
He thanked Archbishop Martin for releasing him."He has been a very good friend to me for many years," he said. "Working for him in Dublin for the last four years has been a particularly enjoyable and instructive experience."