BBC News
February 15, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8515595.stm
ROME -- Ireland's Roman Catholic bishops are preparing for an unprecedented meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
They have been invited by the Pope to discuss the Irish Church's response to the child sex abuse scandal.
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| The Pope said he was "disturbed and distressed" by the Murphy report |
Four bishops criticised for failing to address concerns about abuse have already resigned, but victims say more must be done to restore public trust.
Last year, a report was highly critical of the Dublin Archdiocese's handling of priests who were suspected sex abusers.
The Murphy Commission laid bare a culture of concealment where Church leaders prioritised the protection of their own institution above that of vulnerable children in their care, and all too often failed to pass on details to the police.
The Pope has said he is "disturbed and distressed" by the report and shares the "outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by Irish people.
'Enormous injustice'
BBC religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau says bishops from a particular country normally visit the Vatican around once every five years.
But the Pope is summoning Ireland's bishops for a special two-day meeting, specifically to address the issue that has severely undermined Catholicism's standing there, our correspondent says.
The Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, published in November, found the Church had "obsessively" hidden child abuse from 1975 to 2004, and operated a policy of "don't ask, don't tell".
Some bishops still in office had been part of the cover-up, the report said.
Four out of five key bishops who were particularly criticised have now resigned, but the fifth, Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan, is expected to meet the Pope.
Groups of abuse survivors have written an open letter to the Pope, calling on him to demand the resignation of Bishop Drennan, who has insisted he did nothing to endanger children.
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| The fullness of the truth must come out, everything must be laid on the table - Bishop of Clogher Joseph Duffy |
They are also asking the Pope to instruct the bishops "to comply fully with civil child protection guidelines, including the mandatory reporting of all concerns or complaints to the civil authorities for investigation".
On Sunday, one of the prelates said they would acknowledge the "failure on the part of all of us" to be vigilant against abuse and express their commitment to try to rectify "the enormous injustice and cruelty" the victims suffered.
"A casualty of all this has been the truth," the Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy, told reporters at the Irish seminary in Rome. "The fullness of the truth must come out, everything must be laid on the table."
Bishop Duffy said questions of resignation would not be "on the agenda of the bishops because that is not our prerogative".
Our correspondent says Ireland's bishops know that much has to change if the Church is going to regain even a fraction of the standing it had in national life a century ago.
But as elsewhere in Europe, dwindling congregations and a shortage of priests make for further uncertainty about the Church's future, he adds.
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