An Irish writer ostracised during his life for highlighting the link between the Catholic Church and Nazi genocide in Yugoslavia is to receive a public apology.
The late Hubert Butler was shunned in his native Kilkenny after clashing in 1952 with the Catholic Church over the genocide in Yugoslavia.
Mr Butler was the first westerner to translate state newspapers in Yugoslavia after the war, highlighting links between the Nazis' genocide and the church.
When the Papal Nuncio walked out of a meeting in Dublin being addressed by Mr Butler in 1952, it sparked a chain of events. Mr Butler was forced to resign from the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, which he had refounded in 1944. He also lost his place on the county agriculture committee. People stopped talking to him and his family.
The award-winning essayist died in 1991 without receiving an apology for this treatment. That will be corrected later this month when the Mayor of Kilkenny, Mr Paul Cuddihy, will make a conciliatory speech at the Hubert Butler Centenary Celebration
"We were wrong and he was right," Mr Cuddihy said. "I will not attempt to open old wounds or cause controversy but seek to bring closure on a sad chapter in Kilkenny's recent history...
In 1938 Mr Butler helped Jews escape from Austria. Many of those displaced after the war stayed at his home in Bennettsbridge. After the Hungarian uprising in 1956 he aided refugees fleeing the military dictatorship. In 1974 he came to the assistance of those who escaped from Chile after Augusto Pinochet came to power.
He wrote on many subjects and a celebration of his life and work will be held in the Parade Tower of Kilkenny Castle from October 20th to October 22nd.