POPE FRANCIS HAS appointed a new Archbishop of Dublin as Diarmuid Martin begins his retirement from the role. 

Martin will be replaced by Dr Dermot Farrell, who currently serves as the Bishop of Ossory, a diocese containing 42 parishes in Kilkenny, Laois and Offaly.  

Pope Francis accepted Martin’s request for retirement from today. The date from which Farrell will take over the role has yet to be announced. 

Farrell said he is “glad to accept the call to serve in Dublin”. 

“I have a certain sadness in leaving Ossory, its priests and its people. However, I come in hope, and I am confident that I will also be happy in Dublin,” he said today.

Farrell was born in 1954 in Co Westmeath. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1980 and has served as the Bishop of Ossory since January 2018. 

Archbishop elect of Dublin, Dermot Farrell. “The only way to the future is together - listening to the Spirit” pic.twitter.com/vCOO4FJEb5

— Archdiocese Dublin (@DublinDiocese) December 29, 2020

Diarmuid Martin said he is “really delighted” that Farrell has chosen Dublin as “it shows where his heart lies”. 

“When my appointment as Archbishop was formally announced, Cardinal Connell at the Press Conference began by saying:  “This is not my day; today is the day of the new Archbishop”. I echo these sentiments as I greet and ask God’s blessing on my successor,” Martin said. 

In the interim of the handover of pastoral governance of the Dublin archdiocese, Diarmuid Martin will deal with the rights, faculties and duties of a diocesan bishop.

Farrell is currently the Archbishop-elect and will continue as administrator of the Ossory diocese.