Two new bishops selected with the ‘smell of the sheep’

Pope Francis has appointed two men known for their extensive pastoral experience to dioceses in Scotland and Ireland, write Sarah Mac Donald and Brian Morton.

On Saturday, he named the Bishop of Killaloe, Kieran O’Reilly, as Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, in mid-western Ireland, and Fr William Nolan, who has served in the same parish for 20 years, as the next Bishop of Galloway, in the south-west of Scotland. Fr Nolan, 60, Vicar General of the Diocese of Motherwell, is parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes, East Kilbride.

Bishop O’Reilly told The Tablet that traditionally a bishop was “king in his own castle” but in the future “we [priests and laity] will be working and collaborating together”.