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	Pope Expresses Outrage at Abuse in Ireland By Elisabetta Povoledo New York Times December 11, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/world/europe/12pope.html?_r=1 VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI, "shares the outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by Catholics in Ireland over a child sex-abuse scandal and plans to write a letter to Catholics there, indicating actions church experts say could include resignations of bishops there. . The Vatican released the statement after the pope met here with top Irish church officials two weeks after a report was issued in Ireland accusing the Roman Catholic Church and the police in Ireland of covering up decades of child sex abuse by priests in Dublin. The abuse "deeply disturbed and distressed" the pope, who expressed "his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims and their families, and by society at large," the statement said. In 2008, the pope publicly apologized during papal visits to the United States and Australia, two countries badly shaken by clerical sexual abuse scandals. Ireland is still reeling from the revelations that have emerged from the 700-page so-called Murphy Report, prepared under the auspices of the Irish government and issued on Nov. 26. That report described a secretive church bent on covering up any hint of scandal to protect its reputation and assets. In May, a separate report nine years in the making suggested Dickensian nightmares of sexual, emotional and physical abuse of underprivileged children studying at church-run residential schools in Ireland. The pope's letter to the Irish church is expected to be issued early next year, year, said Cardinal Sean Brady, president of the Irish bishops conference, who met with the pope along with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. Its contents, said Archbishop Martin, would contribute to the process of "a very significant reorganization of the whole Church of Ireland," to overhaul the "climate in the church" that had allowed abusers to act with impunity. The church would also work to increase the involvement of lay people, he said. The Irish media have speculated recently about the possible resignation of various bishops who worked in Dublin during the years covered by the report. Cardinal Brady told reporters at an impromptu press conference in front of St. Peter's Square that the topic had not come up at the meeting. Friday's statement said that the Vatican took "very seriously the central issues raised by the report, including the governance of local Church leaders with ultimate responsibility for the pastoral care of children."
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