Archbishop Seán Brady has called on the church to declare the late Pope John Paul II a saint.
The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Ireland's most senior Catholic cleric, was speaking following a special mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh today.
Among the congregation were Cardinal Cahal Daly, the Church of Ireland Archbishop Robin Eames, and Northern Ireland Secretary Murphy.
Dr Brady said canonisation would help the Pope's work to continue and would mean he would be venerated by the church.
"My hope is that he would be canonised," he said. "If it would serve to people to take on board and live out the kind of things that he believed in, and taught and stood for, I think that would be important.
"The man gave endlessly of his time and energy and people energised him and he liked them. It certainly has revolutionised the role of the papacy," Dr Brady said.
Last night the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor added his name to the growing number of senior figures in the church calling for John Paul II to become only the fourth pontiff in history, and the first in modern times, to be awarded the soubriquet of "the Great", a preliminary to canonisation.
Describing an "epic" papacy, the cardinal added: "If one man's dying can evoke such an outpouring of love and gratitude, it is true we are all in God's hands. "That is why, dear friends, he has been described as one of history's greatest Christians and why he shall surely be called Pope John Paul the Great."