The Archbishop of Armagh and President of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, Mgr. Eamon Martin, will be serving the Diocese of Dromore as its apostolic administrator starting from today, Monday 15 April 2019. He will succeed Bishop Philip Boyce who had already signalled his intention to resign a long time ago. Bishop Boyce, 79, who has been at the helm of the diocese since 2018, gave a warm “welcome” to Archbishop Martin and expressed his gratitude to “the people and clergy for their prayers, goodwill, encouragement and unstinting support over the last year”. Archbishop Martin, in turn, said he was “humbled by Pope Francis’ request” and “grateful” for his confidence in him. “One of my first priorities in the diocese will be to receive a full briefing on safeguarding issues and to be updated on any statutory investigations into these matters”, he wrote in a letter to the faithful of Dromore. “I will also strongly encourage the positive pastoral initiatives and administrative developments already underway in the diocese to ensure that the parishes of Dromore remain vibrant, missionary and in a state of readiness for the future”. “It will be an honour for me to serve the people, priests and religious of Dromore during this transitional time for the diocese”, Mgr. Martin added, asking the faithful to pray for him as he takes up “this new responsibility”. The Diocese of Dromore has a Catholic population of 90,000, 22 parishes and 25 priests in active ministry.