[7] On 9 August 1915, MacRory was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor by Pope Benedict XV and received his episcopal consecration on 14 November from Michael Cardinal Logue.

[9] Sir Horace Plunkett, who chaired the convention, recorded in his diary that, in August 1917, Bishop MacRory made a bad speech "raking up the past.

Cardinal MacRory presided over the 31st International Eucharistic Congress, which was held in Dublin from 20 to 26 June 1932 and which was a highpoint for the Catholic Church in the newly created Irish Free State, which was a dominion within the British Empire.

"[13][14]It was MacRory who suggested to Eoin O'Duffy that he raise an Irish Brigade to aid the Generalissimo Franco's Nationalists, who were seeking to overthrow the democratically elected Spanish government during that country's civil war.

After a brief illness, Cardinal MacRory died at the age of 84 from a heart attack at Ara Coeli, the archbishop's official residence in Armagh.