Noël Treanor (25 December 1950 – 11 August 2024) was an Irish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who served as Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union with the personal title of

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from 2022 until his death in 2024. He was Secretary-General of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) from 1993 to 2008 and 32nd Bishop of Down and Connor from 2008 to 2022.

Early life and education

Treanor was born on 25 December 1950 at Silverstream,

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town ...

. He attended primary school at St Brigid's National School, Leitrim, and secondary school at St Mary's CBS,

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

, before beginning studies in

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and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

St Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mou ...

in 1968 and later

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

in 1971. Treanor was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Clogher on 13 June 1976.

Presbyteral ministry

Following his ordination, Treanor was sent to the

Pontifical Irish College The Pontifical Irish College is a Catholic Church, Catholic seminary in Rome for the training and education of priests. The college is located at #1, Via dei Santi Quattro, and serves as a residence for clerical students from all over the world ...

for further studies in theology at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

, where he completed a licentiate in

sacred theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

, within special commendation, in 1977. He was recalled to the Diocese of Clogher in 1980, where he received his first diocesan assignment as assistant in the cathedral parish of

and Rackwallace, with responsibility for the local Catholic marriage advisory council. Treanor returned to Rome in 1981 to complete further studies, while also serving as Prefect of Studies at the Pontifical Irish College. He subsequently returned to Ireland in 1985, when he was appointed diocesan director of adult education and organised a diocesan assembly of clergy held in 1986 to promote pastoral renewal within the diocese. Treanor was next appointed curate in

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

, where he also served as chaplain to the local general hospital and a confessor at the nearby St Patrick's Purgatory. He was sent to

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in 1989, to work with COMECE. While deeply involved in the expanding endeavour of COMECE to project Christian values into the European process, Treanor continued to engage in pastoral work through contact with the local English-speaking community. He also published and lectured widely on European construction issues, the Church and Europe, and Church-State matters. Treanor was appointed

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of COMECE on 31 March 1993, and subsequently appointed

Chaplain of His Holiness Chaplain of His Holiness is a title of distinction given by the Pope in recognition of a priest's service to the Church. They are addressed with the honorific of "Monsignor" and have certain privileges with respect to ecclesiastical dress and ve ...

on 18 May 1994. In addition to his native English and Irish, Treanor was fluent in French,

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and

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Bishop of Down and Connor

The then

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Treanor was appointed

Bishop of Down and Connor The Bishop of Down and Connor () is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Downpatrick (located in County Down) and the village of Connor (located in County Antrim) in Northern Ireland. The title is still used by the Catholic C ...

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

on 22 February 2008. He was consecrated by the

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

and

Primate of All Ireland The Primacy of Ireland belongs to the diocesan bishop of the Irish diocese with highest precedence. The Archbishop of Armagh is titled Primate of All Ireland and the Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland, signifying that they are the senior ...

, Seán Brady, on 29 June in St Peter's Cathedral,

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. Treanor's was the first consecration of a newly-appointed bishop in the diocese since that of Daniel Mageean in 1929. Ahead of a referendum in the Republic of Ireland on the ratification of the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...

in October 2009, he advocated for a Yes vote, saying that Roman Catholics could vote in favour of the treaty in good conscience. Treanor cited his experience with COMECE in assuring an

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committee that ratification of the treaty would not affect Irish sovereignty over issues such as

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and

military neutrality A neutral country is a state that is neutral towards belligerents in a specific war or holds itself as permanently neutral in all future conflicts (including avoiding entering into military alliances such as NATO, CSTO or the SCO). As a type o ...

. He described the findings of the

Murphy Report The Murphy Report is the brief name of the report of a Commission of investigation conducted by the Irish government into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. It was released in 2009 by Judge Yvonne Murphy, only a fe ...

, published in November 2009, as "horrific", and expressed his confidence that the Diocese of Down and Connor had rid itself of all abusing priests. Speaking at a press conference in August 2010, where previously undisclosed documents from diocesan archives relating to the Ballymurphy massacre were made public for the first time, Treanor expressed his support for an international, independent inquiry into the events of the massacre, adding:

As with Bloody Sunday, the reputations of those who were killed were actively besmirched and the evidence of the available eyewitnesses was either ignored or actively discredited. Indeed the events in Ballymurphy on August 9th–11th, 1971, would and perhaps should have been considered the necessary starting point for such an inquiry.

At the diocesan congress in 2013, he launched a review into ensuring that diocesan pastoral activities matched current resources, initiating a review of pastoral structures which drew upon the results of a census held in 2011. New pastoral communities were drafted and presented to clergy in three meetings and subsequently to the lay faithful, with a regular practice rate of 20% across the diocese significantly influencing future structures, leading to increased sharing of personnel, skills and finances. Treanor ordained the first permanent deacons for diocesan service in October 2018.

Diplomatic career

Treanor was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union, with the personal title of archbishop, by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on 26 November 2022. Treanor died of a heart attack in Brussels, on 11 August 2024, at the age of 73.

References

External links