A priest from Co Cork has been appointed secretary to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State. Father Joseph Murphy (33), from Donoughmore in the diocese of Cloyne, has been in Rome since 1989.
He graduated from St Colman's College, Fermoy, in 1986 before entering St Patrick's College, Maynooth, in September that year. He concluded his university studies at NUI Maynooth in 1989 with a first-class honours BA degree.
In September 1989, the Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, sent him to the Irish College in Rome to continue his studies for the priesthood. He began theological studies at the Gregorian University where, after transferring to the French seminary in Rome in September 1991, he graduated with a first-class honours Licentiate in Theology in 1994.
Father Murphy was ordained in July 1993 at St Lachteen's church, near Donoughmore before returning to Rome to continue his studies at the Gregorian University. Having obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, he began post-graduate studies for a Doctorate in Theology. His thesis is on "The Hierarchy of Being in the Questions on God in the Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas".
Following a request from the Vatican, Father Murphy worked in the English-language section of the Secretariat of State in October 1997, which led to his promotion.
