[1] Born in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, he was ordained a priest on 18 May 1975 for St. Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions.
On 24 December 2007 Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Burke as the new Archbishop of Benin City, also in Nigeria.
St Patrick's Missionary Society claimed its own investigation "found no evidence to corroborate the allegation of child sexual abuse".
(RTÉ was censured and paid damages to Kevin Reynolds, an Irish priest falsely accused in the programme of child rape in Kenya).
Burke admitted having sex with numerous women, including a married mother of eight, but denied any underage or non-consensual relations.