Ireland’s ‘in persona episcopi’ experiment advances

The Vatican announced Sunday the union of two new Irish dioceses under a single bishop.
A map highlighting Ireland’s dioceses of Achrony, left, and Elphin. Sheila1988 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The Holy See press office said Feb. 16 that Pope Francis had named Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin as Bishop of Achonry, uniting the dioceses in persona Episcopi (in the person of the bishop).
Doran, who is 71, will oversee both dioceses, though they remain juridically separate.
The announcement was no surprise given prior episcopal moves amid an institutional reorganization of the Church in Ireland.
What’s the background to the latest decision? What’s the current state of the Irish Church? And what’s likely to happen next?
What’s the background?
The Catholic Church in Ireland comprises 26 dioceses grouped into four ecclesiastical provinces: Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam.
A restructuring process is taking place in the Province of Tuam, in the west of Ireland, a largely rural area with a …