John Magee

John Magee SPS (born 24 September 1936) is a Roman Catholic bishop emeritus in Ireland. He was Bishop of Cloyne from 1987 to 2010; following scandal he resigned from that position on 24 March 2010, becoming a bishop emeritus. Magee is the only person to have been private secretary to three popes. Early life and education He was born in Newry Northern Ireland, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore, on 24 September 1936. His father was a dairy farmer. He was educated at St Colman's College in Newry and entered the St Patrick's Missionary Society at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, in 1954. He also attended University College Cork where he obtained a degree in philosophy before going to study theology in Rome, where he was ordained priest on 17 March 1962. He served as a missionary priest in Nigeria for almost six years before being appointed Procurator General of St Patrick's Society in Rome. In 1969 he was an official of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome, when he was chosen by Pope Paul VI to be one of his private secretaries. On Pope Paul's death he remained in service as a private secretary to his successor, Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II. Magee is the only man to hold the position of private secretary to three Popes in Vatican history. He also acted as chaplain to the Vatican's Swiss Guard.