A Catholic priest in England, who is serving an eight-year sentence for sex offences against children, has been dismissed by papal decree.
Father John Lloyd (58) was sentenced for the rape of a 16-year-old girl and a series of indecent assaults on two altar boys.
The decision by Pope John Paul is believed to be the first such "dismissal from the clerical state", to use the Vatican phrase, of a British priest in recent history.
Three priests in the United States were dismissed in similar circumstances last year. In Ireland two diocesan priests have been dismissed from the clerical state "within the past seven years", according to the Catholic Press and Information Office. They cannot be named, by order of the courts, to protect the identity of victims.
A spokesman said no such process had been initiated against Father Sean Fortune as he had yet to go through the legal process at the time of his death, while it was expected such a process would have been initiated against Father Brendan Smyth had he lived.
Father Lloyd can no longer conduct any church services and is banned from teaching in any Catholic school or college.
Details of the special decree were revealed yesterday by the Archbishop of Cardiff, the Most Rev John Aloysius Ward, for whom Father Lloyd had worked as press officer.
Dr Ward confirmed that he had requested the Pope to authorise the priest's dismissal. "This step was taken because of the gravity of John Lloyd's offences and the extent of the injury caused," he said.
Normally, a penalty as serious as dismissal from the clerical state can only be imposed after a full canonical trial.
In this instance, however, the Pope decided to by-pass the process because of "the importance of sparing those who were hurt any further distress", according to senior church sources.
