Ireland Online
March 20, 2010
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/ireland/martin-letter-another-step-toward-healing-450720.html
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| Diarmuid |
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin – the second most senior Catholic in Ireland – said today's pastoral message from Pope Benedict was a further step in the Church’s renewal and healing process.
“I welcome the Pope’s expression of apology and his recognition of the suffering and betrayal experienced by survivors,” he added.
“The Pope recognises the failures of Church authorities in how they dealt with sinful and criminal acts.”
The unprecedented pastoral letter from Pope Benedict was promised by the Pope after a meeting last December with Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin.
The letter comes against the background of recent reports which began to expose a litany of abusive acts spanning decades.
In May last year the Ryan Report revealed the Catholic Church and Government covered up almost four decades of sexual abuse and beatings by priests and nuns on thousands of children in state care.
The damning probe found a catalogue of disturbing and chronic sexual, physical and emotional torture inflicted on disadvantaged, neglected and abandoned youngsters by both religious and lay staff.
Six months later the shocking state-ordered Murphy Report unveiled a catalogue of child abuse and subsequent cover-ups over three decades by the Catholic hierarchy in Dublin.
It detailed allegations against a sample 46 priests who served in Dublin between 1975 to 2004 and found several bishops, some still serving, mishandled complaints against priests.
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