Papal Whitewash, by Dan Collins, Irish Examiner, February 17, 2010

Papal Whitewash

By Dan Collins
Irish Examiner
February 17, 2010

http://www.irishexaminer.com/home/papal-whitewash-112422.html

IRELAND -- SURVIVORS of clerical sex abuse have said the emergency summit between the Pope and Irish bishops in Rome was a complete failure.

Bishop of Cork John Buckley told Pope Benedict XVI that the current situation in Ireland was "our dark night of the soul".

Andrew Madden, who was abused as an altar boy, said the meeting between Pope Benedict and 24 Irish bishops was "two days of the grandest window-dressing I have ever seen".

Guidelines on the protection of children from clerical abuse must be on a legislative basis, he stressed.

Irish bishops returning home had no expressed instruction from Pope Benedict "to follow all State guidelines and protocols as they exist, and as they are further developed, in relation to the safety, welfare and protection of children", he said.

Similarly, those offering support to rape victims said the Holy Father had failed to "put child protection above protecting the good name of alleged abusers".

Rape Crisis Network executive director Fiona Neary said it was "shocking" that the "systemic failures of the institutions of the Catholic faith are not mentioned as being a significant contributory factor in the sexual abuse of minors".

It was clear that the most senior levels of Catholic institutions were unable "to take responsibility for their collusion with the abuse of children in Ireland".

The talks were an opportunity for the Pope to apologise to victims for the Church's reluctance and failure to report sex offenders to civil authorities, but it "was an opportunity wasted", she said.

One in Four said expectations had been high but little had come of the meeting. "We are also disappointed that the Pope has offered no explanation for the failure of the Vatican and the Papal Nuncio to cooperate with the Murphy commission," said its director Maeve Lewis.

Alan Shatter, Fine Gael spokesman on children, remained furious at the failure of the Papal Nuncio and the Vatican to cooperate with the investigation into 46 priests in the Dublin archdiocese.

"I want to reiterate that I believe the Papal Nuncio's letter to the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee refusing to meet with that committee remains deeply regrettable. I am repeating my call on the Vatican and the Irish hierarchy to bring about a change of attitude and to engage in constructive transparent dialogue with regard to the manner in which the Church has dealt with the issue of clerical child abuse and the failure of the Vatican to provide assistance to the Murphy commission when it was sought."

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Pope "shares the outrage" over the abuse and noted that the Pope had "already expressed profound regret".

Rev Lombardi said the issue of resignations "was not addressed".

He also defended the Pope's representative in Ireland for refusing to testify about decades of systematic covers-up by the Church hierarchy.

A Vatican statement said the Pope called the sexual abuse of children "a heinous crime" and a "grave sin which offends God".

All Ireland Primate Cardinal Seán Brady said the abuse of children by priests and religious was not just an Irish problem. He said the Pope emphasised the need for the bishops to be united in the face of the abuse crisis.

The bishops, he said, will now be reporting to their respective diocese on the discussions in Rome.