Robert Byrne (bishop)

Robert Byrne, C.O. (born 22 September 1956) is a prelate of the Catholic Church in England. He was the 14th Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham and the titular bishop of Cuncacestre. He is the first Oratorian to be appointed a bishop in England since 1874.

Early life
Byrne was born on 22 September 1956 in Manchester, England. He was educated at St Bede's College, Manchester, a private Catholic school. He studied at King's College, London and at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

Priesthood and Religious Life
Byrne entered the Birmingham Oratory in 1980. On 5 January 1985, he was ordained to the priesthood by Maurice Couve de Murville, the then Archbishop of Birmingham. In 1990, he moved to Oxford where he founded the Oxford Oratory. From 1990 to 1999, he was Parish Priest of the Parish of St Aloysius, Oxford. From 1993 to 2011, he served as the elected Provost of Oxford Oratory.

Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham
In March 2014, Pope Francis appointed him an auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of Birmingham. As such, he became the first Oratorian to be appointed a bishop in England since 1874 when Edward Bagshawe was appointed Bishop of Nottingham. On 13 May 2014, he was consecrated to the episcopate as the Titular Bishop of Cuncacestre. The principal consecrator was Bernard Longley, the Archbishop of Birmingham, and the co-consecrators were Michael C. Barber SJ, the bishop of Oakland, and Philip Pargeter, his predecessor as Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham. His pastoral area within the Archdiocese of Birmingham covered six deaneries: Birmingham Cathedral, Birmingham North, Birmingham South, Birmingham East, Kidderminster, and Worcester.

Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle
On 4 February 2019, Pope Francis appointed Byrne the next Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, in succession to Séamus Cunningham. He was enthroned as the 14th bishop of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle during a Mass at St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle on 25 March 2019.

Resignation and controversy
On 12 December 2022, Pope Francis accepted his resignation from his bishopric, nine years before the normal retirement age of 75, as mandated by Catholic canon law. In a statement, the bishop said that the duties of his office had "become too great a burden to bear". In the same month, Byrne had been reported to the police "after an allegation of abuse was made against him by a priest from another diocese to his bishop".

On 22 January 2023, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating rumours of a sex party at St Mary's Cathedral. As part of the investigation into the resignation of Byrne, the Church was looking into claims one of his priests invited worshippers to a party in his quarters attached to the cathedral during lockdown. The priest, Michael McCoy, dean of the cathedral, killed himself four days after finding out he was being investigated by police for child sexual abuse. In a letter seen by The Sunday Times Malcolm McMahon, archbishop of Liverpool, who is leading the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Byrne's resignation, said he has been asked by the pope’s advisers to prepare "an in-depth report into the events leading up to Bishop Byrne’s resignation".

In May 2023, a summary of the report was published which included a number of findings:


 * "lewd parties" did not take place at St Mary's Cathedral but gatherings for volunteers with wine and takeaways did place, in contravention to Covid regulations
 * Bishop's House in West Denton was sold and a replacement was bought in Gosforth, a middle class area: this was deemed an "error of judgement" and that "Bishop Byrne could have relocated to a property that served his and diocesan needs in a less conspicuous area at a lower cost"
 * Despite multiple safeguarding issues against him, Byrne promoted Canon Michael McCoy to dean of Newcastle cathedral: McCoy would go on to kill himself after police spoke with him in relation to historic sexual abuse allegations
 * Byrne continued to associate with Timothy Gardner OP, a convicted paedophile: including being seen together in public, inviting him multiple times to the bishop's residence, and attempting to get him employment in the diocese's archives and for an overseas charity