The Anscombe Centre mourns the death of Archbishop Noël Treanor

The Staff and Governors of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre offer prayers and condolences for the death of Archbishop Noël Treanor on 11 August this year. He was formerly a Governor of the Anscombe Centre at the time we moved to Oxford in 2010, and simultaneously a member of the Catholic Bishops’ Joint Bioethics Committee (of the Bishops of England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland). It was an important transitional time for the Centre and we greatly valued his presence. He was not able to continue long in the role but he continued to support the work of the Centre through the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Other than his service as Bishop of Down and Connor from 2008 to 2022, he was perhaps best known for his role as Secretary-General of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) which he fulfilled from 1993 to 2008. It was no doubt with that experience in mind that in 2022 Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union and gave him the title of Archbishop.

This appointment attested to Archbishop Treanor’s strong personal commitment to viewing the European project through an ethical and spiritual lens, as a place of meeting and a means to approach problems that are common and to learn from one another. He was a man of dialogue.

The Centre maintains a connection with COMECE through the present Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre being a member of the COMECE Commission on Ethics. It is a body that engages with EU policies on bioethical matters and has a great added value as a place for Catholic bioethicists working in different countries to share experiences. The context may differ but we face many of the same challenges. COMECE is a place of friendship and the loss of  Archbishop Treanor was felt keenly in those terms. The Centre would therefore like to echo the words of Mgr. Mariano Crociata, President of COMECE:

‘Archbishop Treanor left an indelible mark on all of us. He was a tireless servant of God, a true man of dialogue, an accurate analyser and an exceptionally gifted speaker. In Northern Ireland, he was a fervent promoter of reconciliation and peace, acting as a bridge-builder between communities. As an enthusiast advocate of the European project as a means to achieve the common good, he later laid the foundations for COMECE’s development, bringing the voice of faith to the heart of the European Union.’