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  More Now Needed after Pope's Apology

Sunday Business Post
March 21, 2010

http://www.sbpost.ie/commentandanalysis/more-now-needed-after-popes-apology-48085.html

IRELAND -- A "further step" in a process of healing was how Archbishop Diarmuid Martin greeted the letter from Pope Benedict XVI, which is being read at Masses this weekend.

Indeed, it is clear that the depth of the crisis facing the Roman Catholic Church, not only in Ireland but internationally, as new revelations of child sexual abuse and its cover up emerge by the day, will not be dealt with quickly or easily. The scale of child abuse has been becoming slowly clear in recent years, as one shocking revelation has followed another.

It has also been evident that the Church was criminally negligent in dealing with it, choosing to cover it up and silence victims again and again over the years. What we learnt more recently,via the Ryan report into abuse in residential institutions and the Murphy report on the Dublin diocese - and subsequent revelations here and elsewhere in Europe - is the institutionalised and organised nature of this cover-up.

In Ireland, recent debate has centred on revelations in relation to Cardinal Sean Brady's handling of complaints against serial abuser Brendan Smyth. Yet there were surely a host of similar cases.Other people now holding high office in the Church also made what one bishop referred to this weekend as "disastrous mistakes". Brady should certainly reflect on his position, but to pretend that a resignation or two will deal with what is now emerging is untenable.

Some way needs to be found - whether via Murphy-style commissions in other dioceses or some other way - to uncover precisely what did happen once and for all. The Pope's apology and his call for decisive action to tackle the issues are welcome, as is his recognition that the acts committed were "criminal" as well as sinful. However, he should surely have gone further in acknowledging the extent of the cover-up at the highest level of the Church in Ireland and, indeed, the worldwide nature of the problem and the Vatican's own failing.

While referring repeatedly to canon law as having been breached, it seems that the Vatican is still slow to accept that what was involved here was facilitating and covering up the most heinous of crimes, which should have been reported to the civil authorities.

That this was an issue prevalent - and not dealt with - throughout wider society for many years does not excuse the church's inaction and its deliberate cover-ups. While the Pope has indicated a Vatican-led probe of all that happened,we must not lose sight of the fact that what was involved here was criminality and this is an issue for civil law and, where appropriate, the courts. It is clear that the flood of disclosures under way here and internationally will put further pressure on the Catholic Church and its leaders in the months ahead.There are big responsibilities also for the government and clear policy improvements called for by the recent reports in terms of child safety policy.

There is still a job to be done in investigating what happened in the past,but clear priority must also be placed on ensuring we do not repeat our mistakes as a society in future.

 
 

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