IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Garry O’Sullivan and Mark Hilliard

Friday April 27 2012

ONE of the country’s most-popular priests has been censored for the last 14 months, it emerged last night.

Fr Brian D’Arcy, a regular broadcaster who has written a popular column in a Sunday newspaper for more than 30 years, has had to submit his writings for clearance for more than a year.

The Passionist priest said last night he was “disappointed” that there wasn’t more respect for freedom of speech in the church. However, Vatican sources insist Irish clerics are not being targeted.

Earlier this month, Fr Tony Flannery had to stop contributing to the Redemptorist Order magazine ‘Reality’ after his column was cancelled on orders from Rome.