IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
Mon, Jul 7, 2014
Clerical child abuse survivor Marie Kane (43) this morning asked Pope Francis to remove Cardinal Seán Brady as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland due to his handling of a clerical child abuse inquiry in 1975.
Now living in Carlow, her abuse by a priest took place in Bray for three years until she was 18.
“It’s a big thing with me that there are still members of the hierarchy there who were involved in the cover-up. I feel personally they (Church) cannot contemplate any change happening, there will be no success,” as long as such people remained in place, she told The Irish Times this morning.
Pope Francis: expected to meet six clerical sex abuse survivors this morning after Mass in the Vatican. Photograph: Luca ZennaroPope to meet six survivors of clerical sex abuse
She told Pope Franci s that “cover-up is still happening and you have the power to make these changes.” There were others besides Cardinal Brady, she said, but “Ididn’t want to go into a litany.” Pope Francis responded that “it was difficult to make these changes,” she said, “but it’s a big thing with me that Seán Brady is gone.”
In 1975, while investigating allegations of child sexual abuse against paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth, Cardinal Brady swore two boys to secrecy as part of a canon law investigation process. The allegations were not reported to police and Smyth continued to abuse children before being jailed in Belfast in 1994.
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