Noël Treanor (born 25 December 1950) is an Irish prelate of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who was appointed
Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union with the personal title of
archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
on 26 November 2022. He was
Bishop of Down and Connor
The Bishop of Down and Connor is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Downpatrick (located in County Down) and the village of Connor (located in County Antrim) in Northern Ireland. The title is still used by the Catholic Chur ...
in Ireland from 2008 to 2022.
Early life and education
Noël Treanor was born on 25 December 1950 at Silverstream,
County Monaghan
County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Cou ...
, in the Parish of Tyholland in the
Diocese of Clogher. He attended St Brigid’s National School, Leitrim, and completed his early education at St Mary’s C.B.S., Monaghan. He began, in 1968, his study of
Arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...
and
Philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
at
St. Patrick's College,
Maynooth
Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...
, and later, in 1971, the study of Theology, achieving his
Licentiate in Sacred Theology
Licentiate in Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus; abbreviated STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theol ...
, with special commendation, in 1977.
Priestly Ministry in Europe
After being ordained a priest on 13 June 1976 in the Cathedral of St Macartan, in the Diocese of Clogher, Treanor was sent by Bishop
Patrick Mulligan, to the
Pontifical Irish College
The Pontifical Irish College is a Roman Catholic seminary for the training and education of priests, in Rome. The College is located at #1, Via dei Santi Quattro, and serves as a residence for clerical students from all over the world. Designated ...
in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
to study theology at the
Pontifical Gregorian University
The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy.
The Gregorian originated as ...
. Recalled in 1980 by the new Bishop of the Diocese,
Joseph Duffy, he was appointed assistant in the Cathedral parish, with charge of the local Catholic Marriage Advisory Council.
From 1981 to 1985, he again studied theology in Rome, while at the same time serving as Prefect of Studies at the Irish College. Having returned to his diocese in 1985, he was appointed Director of Adult Education. He also organised the Diocesan Assembly of the clergy that was held in 1986 to promote pastoral renewal within the Diocese.
Treanor's next appointment was a curacy in
Enniskillen
Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...
, County Fermanagh, where he also provided service at the general hospital and was active as a confessor at Lough Derg pilgrimage centre.
In 1989, he was sent to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
to work with
COMECE
The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union, formerly the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, ( la, Commissio Episcopatuum Communitatis Europaeae; COMECE) is the association of Catholic Church e ...
. While deeply involved in the expanding endeavour of this Church body to project Christian values into the European process, he continued to engage in pastoral work through contact with the English-speaking community in the city centre. He has also published and lectured widely on European construction issues, the Church and Europe, and Church-State matters.
On 31 March 1993, Treanor was appointed to succeed Paul Schaeffer of France as
Secretary General
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of COMECE for a three-year term. He was reappointed for several terms. On 18 May 1994, he was nominated
Chaplain to His Holiness.
He is fluent in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
French,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
and
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
.
Bishop
![Coat of arms of Noel Treanor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Coat_of_arms_of_Noel_Treanor.svg)
On 22 February 2008,
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
appointed Treanor Bishop of Down and Connor,
to succeed
Patrick Walsh, who had been bishop since 1991.
Treanor was consecrated bishop on 29 June 2008
[ in St. Peter's Cathedral, Belfast, by Cardinal Brady with Patrick Walsh and Joseph Duffy as co-consecrators. Treanor took possession of his diocese at the same ceremony. Treanor's episcopal consecration was the first of a newly appointed bishop as Bishop of Down and Connor since the consecration of ]Daniel Mageean
Bishop Daniel Mageean D.D. 6 May 1882 – 17 January 1962 was an Irish Roman Catholic Prelate and until 1962 he held the title Lord Bishop of Down and Connor.
Early life and priestly ministry
Daniel Mageean was born in the townland of Darragh ...
in 1929.
A few weeks before the Irish voted on the Lisbon Treaty
The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member sta ...
in October 2009, Treanor said that Roman Catholics could vote for it in good conscience. He cited his long experience in Brussels in assuring a parliamentary committee that the EU had provided binding guarantees to protect Irish control of issues like abortion and "traditional Irish state neutrality".
In November 2009, Treanor described the findings of the Murphy Report
The Murphy Report is the brief name of the report of a Commission of investigation conducted by the Irish government into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. It was released in 2009 by Judge Yvonne Murphy, only a few ...
as horrific and said that he was confident that his diocese had rid itself of all abusing priests.
In August 2010, Treanor expressed his support for an international, independent inquiry into the 11 killings carried out by the parachute regiment in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in 1971. Treanor was speaking at a press conference where previously undisclosed documents from church archives relating to the events were being made available for the first time.
Treanor said: "As with Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday may refer to:
Historical events Canada
* Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
* Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence aga ...
, the reputations of those who were killed were actively besmirched and the evidence of the available eyewitnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on August 9th-11th, 1971, would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry."
At the Diocesan Congress in 2013 Bishop Treanor launched a review to ensure pastoral activities within the diocese matched current resources. To that end a review of pastoral structures was initiated which drew on the 2011 census. Draft new pastoral communities were presented to the clergy in three meetings and then to the lay faithful. Significantly influencing the structures for the future was a regular practice rate across the diocese of 20% which suggested a greater sharing of personnel, skills and finances.
In October 2018, Bishop Treanor ordained the first permanent deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
s for service in the diocese.
Apostolic Nuncio
On 26 November 2022, Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
appointed Treanor Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union and gave him the personal title of archbishop.
See also
* List of heads of the diplomatic missions of the Holy See
The following is a sortable list of the heads of the diplomatic mission of the Holy See. An apostolic nuncio (also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic repres ...
References
External links
Catholic-hierarchy.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treanor, Noel
1950 births
Living people
21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland
Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI
Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth
Roman Catholic bishops of Down and Connor
Pontifical Gregorian University alumni
Pontifical Irish College alumni
Apostolic Nuncios to the European Union
Diplomats of the Holy See