The Cause of Willie Doyle is progressing well and should go to Rome in 2026 the Bishop of Meath has told The Irish Catholic. “The Theological Commission has completed its work, the Historical Commission will be finished within a month and the Tribunal hopes to have finished its work by the end of February. All going well, I hope to formally close the Diocesan Investigation at the Cathedral in Mullingar in May or June next and send the Cause to Rome. Hopefully, he will be declared a Venerable of the Church soon after and then we wait for the miracle and Beatification. But even on that score, there are several who are reporting favours through Fr Doyle’s intercession. It is a cause that I am confident about and I pray that I shall see his Beatification soon” said Bishop Tom Deenihan.
Last February, the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, Frances Collins, organised a talk at the Embassy in conjunction with the British Ambassador for the Jubilee of Military on Fr Willie Doyle SJ. The bishop spoke at it and he recalled “it was remarkable the warmth and affection that military personnel, throughout Europe, had for this Irish Chaplain over one Hundred Years after his death.”
He added: “Dr Pat Kenny, Fr John Hogan and I were promoting the Cause in Chicago last Halloween and, again, particularly amongst first and second generation Irish, he was well known. In fact, one priest from the Chicago Archdiocese showed me one of Doyle’s vocation promotion leaflets. His aunt from Mayo gave it to him. Another priest there who was very helpful in organising the talks said that he owed his Vocation to Fr Doyle. I have mentioned before that Doyle, an Irish Jesuit Priest serving as a British army chaplain during World War One and giving his life to minister to soldiers who were not all Catholic speaks to our time of national, religious and cultural boundaries. Pope Francis comes to mind, a Christian is one who builds bridges not walls!”
