John Magee (bishop) - International Profile

International Profile

Shortly before Pope John Paul II died on 2 April 2005, the Pope's Polish personal secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz called Magee urgently to Rome, where he arrived the day after the Pope's death. While remaining in Rome for the Pope's funeral, he kept contact with his diocese and was informed of the great outpouring of grief and love for Pope John Paul II manifested by the people of his diocese, and declared that he was grateful to the journalists who by interviewing him enabled him through their various media to share with his people his thoughts and his own grief on that occasion.

Who's Who in Ireland described Magee as "remote low profile". It commented that many ecclesiastical observers "expected him to return to Vatican City by now" and remarked that the "red hat still eludes him" (cf. Who's Who in Ireland, p. 233).

In the 2007 play The Last Confession], which centred on events surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I, the Pope's valet claimed that Magee was responsible for the Pontiff's death and that he fled after committing the act. Magee is represented as interrogated by a committee of cardinals and explaining why he had to leave Rome after the Pope's death.

April 2008 brought renewed speculation that Magee was being considered for a position in the Roman Curia. The French left-wing clerical review, Golias reported that the Irishman was in the running to succeed as head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The review suggested that Magee's support for the Latin Mass had won him the Pope's approval and it argued that the bishop's apparent lack of ambition and shyness eminently qualified him for a position in the Vatican .

In September 2008, as the world prepared to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of John Paul I, the Italian weekly Diva e Donna published an interview with Magee, presenting it as the first time he broke his silence on the events surrounding the death of John Paul I, which he attributed to exhaustion brought on by the stress of the initial period following his election. Magee said he had been accused of having poisoned the Pope and had even been questioned by INTERPOL.