Father Martin McVeigh said he had no idea how the 16 pornographic images appeared when he was addressing parents, and one child, at St Mary's school in Pomeroy on 26 March to prepare families for holy communion.
Parents who attended the talk said when the images appeared McVeigh quickly removed a memory stick from the computer he had been using for the presentation and left the room. He returned 20 minutes later to resume the lecture to his stunned audience. McVeigh has denied any knowledge of the images.
Cardinal Seán Brady, the Catholic primate of Ireland, said the Police Service of Northern Ireland did not believe any crime had committed in connection with the images, which were "inadvertently" shown to the parents and one child present.
He said: "Inappropriate imagery was inadvertently shown by a priest at the beginning of a PowerPoint presentation, causing concern to those present. This was immediately removed from the screen."
Cardinal Brady added: "The priest has stated that he had no knowledge of the offending imagery. The archdiocese immediately sought the advice of the PSNI who indicated that, on the basis of the evidence available, no crime had been committed. The priest is co-operating with an investigation of the matter on the part of the archdiocese."
