VATICAN CITY
The New York Times
[the report]
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: March 20, 2012
VATICAN CITY — The Catholic Church in Ireland has made “excellent” progress in addressing a sexual abuse scandal and reporting new abuse cases directly to the Vatican, but would-be priests need better screening and training, according to a summary of a nearly yearlong investigation issued by the Vatican on Tuesday.
The summary also noted that there was evidence of “dissent” from church teaching among priests, religious and lay people, a “serious situation” it said should not be tolerated.
The investigation — an Apostolic Visitation, in Vatican parlance — was announced by Pope Benedict XVI in March 2010. Four high-ranking prelates chosen by the pope conducted the inquiry last year, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, who investigated Irish seminaries and religious institutions, and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, who examined the Dublin Diocese.
The investigation was part of the Vatican’s response to a series of scathing reports by the Irish government that found cases of sexual abuse by priests and evidence of a widespread cover-up.
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