Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed Saint John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church during mass celebrated in Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican, on the Feast of All Saints.
Amongst the Irish clergy concelebrating the mass were Bishop Breandán Leahy of Limerick, Bishop Fintan Monahan of Killaloe and Bishop Paul Connell of Ardagh & Clonmacnoise, along with Rev Professor Eamonn Conway of Tuam, chair of Integral Human Development at the University of Notre Dame.
This title of Doctor of the Church is rarely bestowed.
Saint John Henry Newman is now just one of 38.
Others include St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, St Teresa of Avila, St Thérèse of Lisieux and St Alphonsus Liguori.
"It was a very uplifting and joyful and happy occasion in the glorious sunshine, it was also a very significant occasion," Bishop Fintan Monahan told RTÉ News.
"[The title of Doctor of the Church] is conferred on those who have made a very significant contribution to an understanding of the faith through their insights, through their work, through their preaching and teaching and St. John Henry Newman was certainly a case in point," Bishop Monahan said.
In a recent apostolic letter on education Pope Leo also declared St John Henry Newman, along with St Thomas Aquinas, as a patron saint of the Catholic Church's educational mission.
In the letter, Drawing New Maps of Hope, the pontiff drew a connection between the two saints, who, though separated by six centuries, were united by the mission of teaching within the Catholic Church.
A Cardinal of the Catholic Church, John Henry Newman was beatified by Pope Benedict in 2010.
An Englishman and a convert, St John Henry Newman had a very special connection with Dublin.
He was invited to live and work in Dublin from 1851 to 1858 in the role as the first Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, the forerunner of University College Dublin.
University Church, which opened in 1856 on St Stephen’s Green, was also built on his initiative and under his supervision.
It was also in Dublin that he delivered his famous lectures on university education, which were later published as The Idea of a University.
"Newman was a highly original thinker, who combined a vast knowledge of the Fathers of the Church with a keen appreciation of the contemporary culture and a deep understanding of human nature," Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin and Vice-President of the Bishops’ Conference, said.
"As a result, his works, though composed in the nineteenth century, remain relevant and thought-provoking today. His motto, cor ad cor loquitur, 'heart speaks to heart', well expresses his ability as a thinker to engage personally with those who read him.
"I am confident that this new honour will lead to a renewed interest in the works of Saint John Henry, the lasting testimony to an exceptionally gifted mind," Archbishop Farrell added.
"This conferral is of particular significance to Irish bishops who, during our 2023 summer plenary meeting in Maynooth, discussed the request to support the process to have Saint John Henry Newman conferred as a Doctor of the Church.
"We formally approved the petition and extended our support to the Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales to bring it to the Dicastery for the Causes of the Saints, which subsequently recommended the conferral to Pope Leo," Archbishop Farrell said.
