The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, has claimed that President Bush's forthcoming visit to Ireland will identify the country with "brutal oppression" in the minds of Muslims.
Expressing his opposition to the visit, Dr Walsh said he believed the visit would damage Irish-US relations, as opposed to strengthening them.
He believed the planned visit would send out a signal to Muslim countries that Ireland supported the war in Iraq. "In the Islamic world it identifies us with what they regard as brutal oppression."
The bishop also had "worries" relating to the impact of planned protests in his diocese near Dromoland Castle, where the US president will be staying.
He called on protesters to treat Mr Bush with "courtesy and respect" and said his opposition to the visit was not driven by bias against the US.
"I'm not anti-American," he said. "I feel a great deal of sympathy with the ordinary American people, who have had no say in this war."
While he would "never question the good faith" of the American president, war was always "a great failure on our part as humans and Christians".
Responding to the criticisms, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Dublin said that Americans, "like Irish, recognise the right to free speech and divergent views as inherent in a democratic society.
"President Bush very much looks forward to coming to Ireland for the annual US-EU summit," she said. "This meeting gives the US and EU the chance to work together on the most pressing issues we face."