(AP) – Roman Catholic Bishop Raymond James Boland, the retired leader of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, has died shortly after returning to his native Ireland.

Diocese spokesman Jack Smith says Boland died Thursday surrounded by family in Cork, Ireland. Smith says Boland “wanted to be buried in the church where he was baptized.”

Boland had recently entered hospice care after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He was 82.

The diocese says Boland was weak from radiation treatment when he left Saturday for Ireland. Smith says Boland’s brother, a retired bishop in Georgia, accompanied his brother.

Boland served as bishop of the diocese from June 1993 until May 2005, when he retired and took the role of bishop emeritus. Before that, he’d been the bishop in Birmingham, Ala., since early 1988.