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	Medb Ruane: Old Ireland Wants to Believe the Vatican Is Behaving Well . . . New Ireland Can't Believe Its Ears By Medb Ruane Irish Independent December 5, 2009 http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/old-ireland-wants-to-believe--the-vatican-is-behaving-well-----new-ireland-cant-believe-its-ears-1965057.html Thierry Henry's handball was an outrage so what can you do? Brian Cowen couldn't fix it but he had a word with Nicolas Sarkozy. Bad faith, Nicolas. A contrast to his statement on the Vatican who are acting 'in good faith,' he claims, by not responding to the Murphy commission on the Dublin archdiocese. The sight of an Irish Taoiseach expressing regret -- and delivering a robust defence of the Vatican's non-cooperation -- was infinitely more shocking than Thierry's foul play. It was a moment when two Irelands collided, never mind two states. Old Ireland wanted to believe that the Vatican did have children's best interests at heart. New Ireland could hardly believe its ears. The moment is defining, but not as Cowen or the Vatican may wish. It's one of the first occasions when the Church's political identity was distinguished from its sacramental role. The Vatican was named in the same way as the US or UK, with Pope Benedict a head of state like Barack Obama or Gordon Brown, except that only 117 men were eligible to vote in Benedict's election, rather than hundreds of millions in the other states. Records show that the Vatican has not supported countries trying to untangle the web of deceit covering child abuse crimes. Ireland is yet another place left hanging. But post-Cowen this week, Ireland is the only country to have expressed its 'regret' for giving any wrong impression about the Vatican. Doesn't good faith make an expression of Pope Benedict's 'regret' more appropriate? Cowen was the voice of Old Ireland, protecting the Church's reputation by speaking it into the official Dail record. He said that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Papal Nuncio (Vatican ambassador) didn't respond to the Murphy commission because they were approached the wrong way. "It is regrettable that the failure to acknowledge either letter has given rise to the impression the Holy See was refusing to cooperate with the commission," he went on. This amounts to expressing the State's regret, which is a step away from apologising to the Vatican on behalf of the Irish people -- and in public. The Murphy report is clear about its rationale: the CDF and nuncio were contacted because they are the relevant spiritual and ecclesiastical authorities. Inter-state protocol was not invoked, nor did anyone advise it. The reasons why the Vatican is now trying to insist on protocol may connect with an appeal before the US Supreme Court, after a lower court ruled that victims could sue the Vatican for crimes committed by an Irish-born priest. The Vatican could be obliged to pay out millions if the Supreme Court affirms the judgement. As a trained solicitor, Cowen must realise that the issue of compensating victims here is crucial to both church and state. He belonged to the Bertie Ahern government that signed off on a deal with the religious orders obliging the State to pay almost all. It cost dearly. The Irish State is already on the edge of bankruptcy. While victims deserve compensation (and justice) the consequences will be catastrophic if any Vatican power plays shift the burden onto the Irish State. The Jesuitical thinking behind Cowen's 'regret' is rather curious, as is the decision to put it on the official record. Somewhat like the doctrine of 'mental reservation' Desmond Connell explained to the Murphy commission, the notion of the Irish State's 'regret' depends on ignoring the real-time contacts and human network behind the whole saga. For example, you'd have to forget that Desmond Connell was the serving Dublin archbishop in the period before Murphy was set up. You'd have to forget that he was then promoted to the CDF to whom Murphy wrote. And, of course, you'd have to separate out the Church's sacramental role by using etiquette as a pretext for it not stepping up to the plate. It becomes complicated. You'd also have to assume that the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs were either sloppy or stupid because they, apparently, should have known better. As would be the Irish cardinals, archbishops and bishops who forgot or simply didn't realise that they were part of a foreign state. Most of all, you'd have to imagine Pope Benedict and his College of Cardinals as so uncaring that they let Irish investigators and their own people muddle through the horror stories, while tsk-tsking about the silly Irish not knowing Vatican rules. (Benedict was head of the CDF previously.) This would be a picture of such contempt it is hardly imaginable. It would betray hundreds of years of loyalty and devotion by Irish Catholics, never mind showing devilish disrespect to the Irish State. It would also mock the friendships and social contacts between Vatican officials, Church leaders and Irish dignitaries -- such as the charming dinner John Cooney mentioned recently between Giuseppe Leanza, the ambassador/nuncio and Dermot McCarthy, Brian Cowen's secretary-general. Cowen's defence of the Vatican may be the sound of Old Ireland in its dying days. It illuminates the unhealthy enmeshing of Church and State. It insults every citizen, especially the victims. But in so doing, he may have created one line of a legal defence that could protect the Vatican from claims by Irish citizens. Yet again, a politician's Catholicism may cost the State dearly.
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