Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, looks at the progress of Coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin
It seems we may soon be rid of that word "Coadjutor" when referring to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
The implications, however, are greater than the removal of a linguistic irritant. For it will mean that the Most Rev Dr Martin will have taken over at one of the largest Catholic dioceses in Europe, with a population of over one million faithful.
On May 3rd next it will be one year since it was formally announced he had accepted a Vatican appointment as successor to Cardinal Desmond Connell, though he was said to have been "passionately uninterested in the job". Three weeks previously he had been called to the offices of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome and made the offer he didn't refuse - after much thought. He was then the Vatican's permanent representative at the UN in Geneva.
His agreement in the circumstances to accept the appointment will of course enhance greatly his authority where it matters most - in Rome. He is in a remarkably strong position to exercise that authority. Not least as he arrived back in Dublin, after 32 years, free of any association whatsoever with the clerical abuse scandals which have been so damaging to the Catholic Church in Ireland. And he has successfully avoided accumulating any baggage or indebtedness since his Liturgy of Welcome at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin last August.
Since then he has been working from an office in Clonliffe College, where he has also lived. He was provided with no back-up support, or staff, whatsoever. Since his arrival there almost eight months ago just two of his scripts have been supplied to media by the diocesan press office at Archbishop's House.
One was an address he gave in All-Hallows College, Dublin, on February 9th last and the other was his homily at a Mass on March 24th in the Pro-Cathedral for victims of the Madrid massacre. None of his addresses, and there have been many, appear on the diocesan website though two of his homilies do - one he delivered at the Liturgy of Welcome on August 30th last and one delivered on January 1st this year, World Day of Peace.
The rest have either been supplied by him directly or reported on by media at events. There have been stories of his hailing taxis personally on Clonliffe Road to attend speaking engagements.
It is not clear whether these working arrangements have been by his own choice or whether they followed a decision at Drumcondra. Or whether such a decision there, if so, was motivated by a desire to allow him maximum room for manoeuvre.
Whatever, it means he is now remarkably free when it comes to "regime change" at Drumcondra.