The announcement today that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is to be appointed coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin will be greeted with some surprise.
Then, as one Dublin priest remarked on Thursday, "the next Archbishop of Dublin is always a surprise. Who would have expected John Charles \, Dermot Ryan, Kevin McNamara, Des Connell?"
An added factor in this case, however, is the belief that Archbishop Martin was said to be "passionately uninterested in the job", as one observer put it. This was probably a factor in convincing his persuaders that he was just the man for the job.
But there were other factors at work too. He is orthodox in belief, young (for an archbishop), very bright, affable, an excellent communicator, energetic, and a Dubliner.
He is also untouched by any of the scandals which have beset, by association, Catholic Church figures in Dublin and across the State. No one can point at him and say he didn't do enough concerning allegations of clerical child sex abuse. He has been out of the country since 1976. His are seen to be a clean, as well as a safe, pair of hands.
Archbishop Martin's work in Rome, particularly for social justice and the relief of Third World debt, impressed many people. He was a key, behind-the-scenes figure in the Council for Justice and Peace from 1986 until his appointment to the UN in 2001. One of the most dynamic departments in Rome, it is in daily contact, sometimes conflict, with the world's power blocs.
He either led or was a senior figure on Vatican delegations at the set-piece UN conferences of the 1990s, on population (Cairo), women (Beijing), habitat (Istanbul) and the environment (Rio de Janeiro).
As The Irish Times Rome correspondent Paddy Agnew wrote of him in 1998: "With typical modesty he says he got the jobs because he speaks English. However, one long-time Vaticanologist, the Rome-based American reporter John Thavis, says it's more serious than that. 'When the Vatican needs someone with political savvy, Diarmuid Martin is the choice. He is very sharp, he knows his brief very, very well and [at the UN conferences] he was nothing less than a guiding light,' he suggests.
"Diarmuid Martin's affability has long made him a target for visiting journalists in Rome. His good nature occasionally sees him grant the interview, but such is his theological orthodoxy that journalists never come away with controversial soundbites," wrote Agnew. His brother Seamus Martin was a journalist with The Irish Times until he retired recently.
Besides English, Archbishop Martin speaks German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French. With a reputation for being what one Rome diplomat described as "a lucid, clear and highly skilful Vatican representative with impressive knowledge of his subject matter", he also became something of a troubleshooter for Rome, visiting East Timor, Sarajevo, and Rwanda to help resolve conflicts in each.
At UN conferences he often found himself dealing with crises when the church's teachings on sexual morality enraged those with liberal views and which, in Cairo and Beijing, threatened to scupper the conferences altogether.
He continued, however, to maintain contact and friendships with members of those opposing delegations.
He also regularly met senior officials of both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to discuss Third World debt, and in 1998 addressed a major IMF seminar in Washington on the issue.
In June 2000, he publicly criticised the world's wealthy countries for failing to live up to promises to relieve debt, made at three G7 summits.
He did so at a Vatican press conference attended by Cardinal Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, and the late Archbishop Francis Xavier Van Thuan, who was president of the Council for Justice and Peace. Both superiors constantly referred questions to him, which he handled openly, fluently, and with impressive in-depth knowledge.
In 1999, it was he who arranged for Bono and Bob Geldof to meet the Pope, on Third World debt.
"Holy Father, this is Mr Bono, and he is a singer, and has done a lot for the campaign," was how he introduced the U2 man.
