Ryan's Euro-poll run sparks Rome decision

THE clerical status of the renegade Irish priest Fr Patrick Ryan will be determined "fairly soon" 'according to the superior of the Irish Pallottines, Fr William Hanly.
Fr Hanly was prompted into action after Fr Ryan announced over the weekend his intention to stand as a candidate for next month's European Parliament elections.
When Fr Ryan returned to Ireland last year, after a failed attempt by the British government to extradite him from Belgium on terrorist charges, it transpired that he was
technically still a priest despite a 14 year absence from his duties.
Bishop Joseph Duffy of Clogher, the official spokesman for the Irish hierarchy, said the Church strongly discouraged any cleric from seeking public office.
Bishop Duffy, speaking in a BBC Radio, interview denied that he was disowning Fr Ryan on behalf of the Catholic Church but was "disowning the expression of private political opinions insofar as they would be possibly misrepresented in the slightest way as being the opinions of the Church in general."