THE Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan has confirmed he will travel to Rome next month after Pope Benedict XVI summoned Ireland’s Catholic Bishops to discuss the Church’s child clerical abuse scandals for the past 15 years.

The Pontiff called the meeting to address the anger and shock felt by Catholics in Ireland following the publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports, which detailed a litany of horrific clerical abuse of children.

Although Bishop Drennan’s role as an Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin from 1997 to 2005, a period covered by the Murphy Report into clerical abuses in the Diocese, is likely to come under scrutiny during the Vatican visit, he remains adamant this week that he doesn’t need to resign.

A spokesperson for Bishop Drennan told the Galway City Tribune that his position hasn’t changed since before Christmas and is unlikely to change as a result of this meeting with the Pope. All of the priests of the Diocese are supportive of the Bishop’s position, the spokesperson insisted.

Bishop Drennan previously said that in his role as Auxiliary Bishop before he came to Galway he had not been fully informed of cases involving allegations against of abuse priests and that it was the then Archbishop Des Connell who made all major decisions.

He is one of five Auxiliary Bishops mentioned in the Murphy Report but the reference to him states that he correctly handled one particular case of allegations against one priest. The other four Auxiliary Bishops have all tendered their resignations to the Vatican.

“The visit to Rome has nothing to do with resignations. Bishop Drennan has taken his position before Christmas; it hasn’t changed and I wouldn’t expect anything like that (visit to Rome) will change his line,” his spokesperson said yesterday.

Bishop Drennan received the Vatican’s invitation on Tuesday and relayed the information to the Diocese’s priests at a meeting in the city later that evening. His spokesperson said reports in national press this week that the meeting was an emergency one, called by the Bishop, were erroneous.

“We had a meeting before Christmas to discuss it (Murphy and Ryan Report) and this week’s meeting was a planned meeting ... it was just a follow up meeting. The priests were sympathetic of the Bishop before Christmas and they are still sympathetic of him,” he said.

Asked if some priests in Galway were not fully supportive the Bishop’s stance, he said: “I’ve no reason to believe that.”

Child protection policy, vetting procedures, pastoral plans and the involvement of lay people in the church as well as the Ryan and Murphy Report were discussed at the meeting which took place at St Mary’s College.

Meanwhile, Bishop Drennan is expected to attend an Extraordinary General Meeting convened by the Irish Bishops Conference in Maynooth this Friday to discuss the contents of the Pope’s Pastoral Letter ahead of their visit to Rome.

The pastoral letter, which represents a formal response by Pope Benedict to the church in Ireland’s clerical sex abuse crisis, will be one of the topics discussed during the two-day visit to the Vatican. Key meetings between the bishops and the Pope will take place on February 15 and 16, and several senior Vatican officials will also attend. It is expected that proposals on dealing with the fallout from the abuse scandal will be put forward, with conclusions offered by the pope.

The bishops will return to their dioceses for the Ash Wednesday liturgies on February 17 where they will address congregations on the way forward. Bishop Drennan met with Pope Benedict once before on an official visit to the Vatican a couple of years ago.