A POPULAR priest is leaving Belfast this week to take up a new role in Paris.

Fr Kieran Creagh is leaving Sacred Heart Parish in the Oldpark after three years of service.

Ordained a Passionist priest in 1993, Fr Kieran was the first person in Africa to be injected with a trial HIV vaccine and was named Irish International Personality of the Year in 2004. In February 2007 he was shot three times during a violent robbery on his home, which was attached to the Leratong AIDS hospice he established in the township of Atteridgeville in South Africa.

The brutal attack attracted international attention and Fr Kieran's story has since spread around the world. After the shooting, he spent several months at home recuperating, only to return to South Africa towards the end of 2007.

He later suffered post-traumatic stress after the attack and moved back to Ireland to live on Tory Island in Co Donegal.

This week's Sacred Heart parish bulletin, said: "On behalf of the parishioners of Sacred Heart, we would like to thank Fr Kieran for all his hard work and dedication to the parish over the last three years.

"He has brought the community together with his prayers and humour; long may this continue. We wish him au revoir, bonne voyage and bonne chance in his new post in Paris. God Bless! He will be sorely missed."

Paul McCusker from People's Kitchen said: "Fr Kieran dedicated a lot of his time to support those most vulnerable across Belfast, the homeless community with his work at the People's Kitchen in Belfast.  

"We all are sad to see him leave and want to thank him for all his work to support those most marginalised. 

"Fr Kieran spent many nights on the streets supporting those who have lost hope and have nowhere to call home, his work will never be forgotten for those who he supported.

"This is Church in action, leaving 6.30pm Mass to prepare for a night on the streets.   

"Kieran is a hugely driven person, always wanting to leave people in a better place than where he found them. 

"He was compassionate to everyone experiencing hard times.  

"The homeless community and those who he supported wish him well in his new parish in Paris."