Pope Leo XIV appoints Bishop Niall Coll as the new Bishop of Raphoe

HIS Holiness Pope Leo XIV has appointed Donegal man, Bishop Niall Coll, as the new Bishop of Raphoe.

The news of his Episcopal appointment was made public today following 10am Mass in St Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny.

The news of his Episcopal appointment was made public today following 10am Mass in St Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny.

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The St. Johnston man will leave his post as Bishop of Ossory in Kilkenny.

He was joined at this morning’s announcement by Bishop Philip Boyce, Bishop Emeritus of Raphoe; Monsignor Kevin Gillespie, Diocesan Administrator of Raphoe; as well as clergy and lay people.

The Diocese has been without a Bishop since the departure of Bishop Alan McGuckian to the Diocese of Down and Connor early last year.

Bishop Coll’s return to the Diocese marks another chapter in the history of the Diocese of Raphoe and comes almost 40 years since his own ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Séamus Hegarty in 1988.

St Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny.

BISHOP NIALL COLL – A LIFE GIVEN TO THE CHURCH

Bishop Coll was born in 1963, the eldest of four children, to Willie and Kathleen Coll, St Johnston.

He attended St Baithin’s National School, St Johnston and St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny.

In September 1981 he entered the National Seminary at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, to begin his formation for the priesthood.

He obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Geography in 1984, and a Bachelor Degree in Divinity in 1987.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Séamus Hegarty for the Diocese of Raphoe in 1988.

Following a two-year period of post-graduate study in Rome he was conferred with a Licence in Theology by the Gregorian University.

In 1989, having completed his studies, Fr Niall was appointed to St Eunan’s College as chaplain and teacher.

Three years later he obtained a Higher Diploma in Education from Trinity College, Dublin.

In 1992 he was sent to Rome to study for a Doctorate in Theology at the Gregorian University.

In 1995, he was awarded a Doctoral Degree for a thesis in Christology which was later published as Christ in Eternity and Time: Contemporary Anglican Perspectives (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001).

Bishop Niall was ordained Bishop of Ossory on January 22, 2023 by Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin, who himself had previously served as Bishop of Ossory.

Thereafter, following his return from Rome, he was appointed as a lecturer in Systematic Theology in Saint Patrick’s College, Carlow.

Three years later he returned to Raphoe Diocese as both chaplains in Pobalscoil na Rossan and curate in the parish of Dungloe.

In 2001 he was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies and Religious Education at Saint Mary’s University College, Belfast (a college of Queen’s University, Belfast).

In 2020, at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic, he returned to the Raphoe Diocese as parish priest of Drumholm (Ballintra and Laghey), and a year later was transferred to the neighbouring parish of Tawnawilly (Donegal Town and Clar).

Bishop Niall is editor (with Father Paschal Scallon CM) of A Church with a Future: Challenges to Irish Catholicism Today (Dublin: Columba Press, 2005), and also of Ireland and Vatican II: Essays Theological, Pastoral and Educational (Dublin: Columba Press, 2015).

He was, for many years, editor of Le Chéile: A Catholic Schools Ethos Journal, published by Saint Mary’s University College, which sought to promote the values and work of Catholic education locally.  He is a member of the Irish Inter-Church Committee.

His appointment as Bishop of Ossory by Pope Francis was announced on October 28, 2022.

Bishop Niall was ordained Bishop of Ossory on January 22, 2023 by Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Archbishop of Dublin, who himself had previously served as Bishop of Ossory.

Three years later, on November 13,  2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Niall Coll as Bishop of Raphoe, his native diocese.