Cardinal Desmond Connell.

Pope John Paul II announced in the Vatican that Diarmuid Martin, the coadjutor archbishop of Dublin, had succeeded Connell as leader of the archdiocese's nearly 1.1 million Catholics.

Martin almost immediately set down a marker, disagreeing with the Vatican?s pronouncement last Friday that priests should refuse Communion to politicians who take a pro-choice stance on abortion.

Speaking at his first press conference as archbishop, Martin warned against the Eucharist being turned into a battleground and said he would "like to see people make a conscientious decision [on the matter] themselves."

He said he felt it would be "very difficult for priests to make a decision on what was the state of the individual soul" presenting for Communion. "The Eucharist must not become a political battleground," he said.

Pressure had been mounting on Connell to quit ever since the Irish television network RTE broadcast an October 2002 documentary into the scope of abuse cases within the country's largest archdiocese.

The program accused Connell of using church funds to provide a confidential $50,000 loan to Ivan Payne, a priest who then used the money to buy the silence of an alleged abuse victim.

The documentary said archdiocese leaders were facing more than 450 lawsuits from alleged victims, and had long been aware of a pedophile ring in the diocese involving eight priests, including Payne.

On Monday, Connell cast his retirement in a positive light, making no reference to the sex abuse scandal.

?I am greatly looking forward to retirement,? Connell told reporters in Dublin. ?There will be a period of adjustment, but it will be good to have time to spend with family and friends, and to catch up on my reading.?

Connell has long been one of the church's most prominent theologians. As archbishop he denounced contraception, divorce, abortion and homosexual relationships.

Martin, meanwhile, is a media-savvy veteran Vatican bureaucrat and diplomat who previously served as the pope's permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva. Since being appointed to his Dublin post last year, the 59-year-old had been seen as Connell's heir apparent.

Connell, who first offered a public apology for his handling of abuse allegations immediately following the RTE program, hinted at his departure as archbishop in an April 8 sermon at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. He will remain as Ireland's only current cardinal.

?The confession of sin is better made in the silence of the heart than spoken aloud,? Connell said in his sermon. ?But I ask pardon of all whom I have offended, especially of those who suffered unspeakable abuse by priests of the diocese and experienced a lack of the care that ought to have been provided.?