The Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, is to take legal action over a television news report on an unfair dismissal case which he claimed caused "deep hurt and grave concern".
Bishop Magee said allegations made in a TV3 news report on the employment appeals case brought by former diocesan office assistant, Mr Damian Jones, were untrue.
Mr Jones, who is in his early 30s, was taking a case for constructive dismissal against Bishop Magee and the diocese. However, he withdrew the case just before it was due to be heard in Cork last Wednesday morning.
Afterward, diocesan spokesman Father Jim Killeen said that the case had been settled on terms acceptable to both parties and he declined to comment further.
But this weekend Dr Magee issued a letter which was read at Saturday and Sunday masses in the diocese's 46 parishes assuring both priests and laity that the TV3 news report was without foundation.
Dr Magee said the TV3 news report of the case - which linked the case to a series of allegations which had appeared in a newspaper the previous weekend - had caused "deep hurt" and he asked for people's prayers.
"I know that this matter has caused deep hurt and is of grave concern to you, the priests and people of the diocese. I therefore wish to assure you that the allegations in the TV3 news report are completely without foundation and are untrue."
Bishop Magee said that in order to defend the truth, he had put the matter in the hands of the diocesan solicitors and he asked both the people and priests of the diocese of Cloyne to remember him in their prayers.
From Dromore, Co Down, Bishop Magee was once spoken of as a possible future Primate of All- Ireland. He is the only person to serve as secretary to three popes - Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I and the current pontiff, Pope John Paul II.
Bishop Magee - then a monsignor - was a close aide to Pope John Paul I, who died just 33 days into his papacy on September 28th, 1978. Last year he broke a long silence and spoke out to dismiss conspiracy theories that Pope John Paul I was murdered.
He told an Italian documentary team that he was convinced that Pope John Paul I died from natural causes - dismissing a widely publicised conspiracy theory that Pope John Paul I had uncovered ties between the Vatican Bank and the Mafia.
Dr Magee was ordained Bishop of Cloyne by Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Basilica in Rome on St Patrick's Day, 1987, and he returned to Cobh where he carried out a major refurbishment on the Bishop's Palace which overlooks the town.