IRELAND
Irish Independent
06 FEBRUARY 2014
THE United Nations has singled out Ireland’s Magdalene laundries scandal as part of a devastating onslaught on the Catholic Church’s handling of clerical abuse.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child accused the Vatican of systematically turning a blind eye to decades of sexual abuse of children by priests, and demanded it immediately turn over known or suspected offenders to face justice.
And the UN committee launched a scathing attack on Ireland’s shameful treatment of women incarcerated in the Magdalene laundries.
Crucially, the UN report stated that the Magdalene women who were “arbitrarily confined” in institutions run by four religious orders of sisters should be paid compensation by the church.
The United Nations report was issued on the same day that Pope Francis met Philomena Lee, the campaigner who has called on the Government to open up adoption records and reunite mothers separated from their children as a result of forced adoption.
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