Bishop of Galway Dr Martin Drennan has reiterated that he will not be resigning in the wake of the Murphy report on clerical sexual abuse, and was not asked for his resignation by the pope in Rome during a meeting with Irish bishops this week.
In an interview with Galway Bay FM today, Dr Drennan said he believed he had "tacit support" from fellow bishops for his position.
"I think the general impression among the bishops and a lot of people I know is that division, that resignations, haven't really helped. They've caused divisions rather than unity," he said.
"It is important for the people of Galway now to know that I'm going to stay with the difficult time, the difficult task and I'm not going to run away from it because things are difficult. They can depend on me to stay with it.
"I think, from what I heard, I think (Dr Martin) is satisfied now that I have taken responsibility for my actions. I responded to his letter and he did mention that ..not on this occasion in Rome, but on other occasions, that he felt I had taken responsibility for my actions so I think I'm satisfied on that score."
Referring to the response of other bishops, Dr Drennan said they had been "very supportive" of his position, and he had been in contact with "everyone of them".
Dr Drennan's stance was supported by Bishop of Clonfert, Dr John Kirby today.
"I was certainly supportive of Bishop Drennan staying on and I made no secret of it. It was the correct decision. There were two references to him in the Murphy report and both were positive," Dr Kirby said.
Dr Kirby said he admired Bishop Drennan’s strength of character, determination and leadership skills.
Dr Kirby said the church had to make its plans, and it now had a national body for safeguarding children in the Catholic Church.
"People recognise that our systems now are as good as they can be, that we have genuine systems for protecting and reporting and relating with the Irish State."