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	More Irish Prelates Expected to Quit Times Live 14 February 2010 http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/world/article306943.ece ROME -- Pope Benedict and his Irish bishops are to meet in Rome to discuss plans for action on a paedophilia scandal that has eroded the church's authority in Ireland, much of which is devoutly Roman Catholic. The meetings, the first such at the Vatican in eight years, could lead to more prelates resigning in a shake-up in the Irish Catholic church hierarchy. Four have already quit. Benedict, 24 Irish bishops and top Vatican officials are expected to hold three sessions of meetings in response to outrage in Ireland about the report of the Murphy Commission, a damning indictment of child sex abuse by priests in the country. The Vatican said in December that the pope will write to the Irish people about the crisis - the first time a pope will have devoted a document solely to the clergy's abuse of children. "We're asking for Pope Benedict to restore the honour to Ireland which was so severely damaged by these scandals," said John Kelly, founder of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse. Ireland has been in a state of shock since the publication of the report in November. It said the church in Ireland had "obsessively" hidden child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004, and had a policy of "Don't ask, don't tell". It said all Dublin bishops during the period under investigation had been aware of some complaints, but the archdiocese had been more preoccupied with protecting the church than safeguarding children. Four bishops have offered their resignations and the pope has so far accepted one of them. Victims group One in Four called on "other bishops throughout Ireland who engaged in this culture of cover-up" to step down. Victims' groups said they will seek monetary compensation, which could lead to a financial crisis for the Irish church. In the US, hit by a priest paedophilia scandal in 2002, seven dioceses have filed for bankruptcy protection in the wake of sex abuse claims against priests. The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, installed after the period covered by the report, has said he expected "a very significant reorganisation of the church in Ireland".
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