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	A Response to the Papal Letter to the 'Irish Faithful'. Colm O'Gorman March 20, 2010 http://colmogorman.com/?p=672 IRELAND -- Below is a response to the Papal letter issued to the 'Irish Faithful' earlier today that I recorded for the PM programme on BBC Radio 4. Its a first response, I will post a more detailed response soon. The full text of the Papal letter is available here. "God's justice summons us to give an account of our actions and to conceal nothing. Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice", said Pope Benedict XVI in his letter to the Irish faithful released today. But not it appears if you are the Pope. For nowhere in the eight page letter is there an unambiguous acceptance of responsibility for the global systemic cover up of child sexual abuse by priests. Nor is there any acknowledgement of the years of aggressive refusal on the part of the Vatican to accept the simple fact of clerical crimes and institutional church cover up. Nowhere is there a pledge to act to protect children by putting in place global church law that requires those aware of such crimes to report them to the police or civil authorities and place child protection ahead of the preservation of the power and wealth of the church. The Pope tells victims that he is "truly sorry" that we have suffered, and then goes on to tell us that we can be healed by a return to the communion of the church. This letter is primarily concerned not with the protection of children but with getting people back into the church. If the Pope is truly concerned for the welfare of victims, his primary focus would be on ensuring that there are no further victims, and not only here in Ireland but across the global church he governs as Supreme Pontiff. It was a simple enough an exercise. Acknowledge the fact of the cover up by the Church, take responsibility for it, and show how you will ensure it never happens again. But the Pope failed to do any of these things. If you think I am being too judgemental, then consider the following. At the end of the eight pages of fine words which fail to address the real issue at all we read what the Pope thinks are the steps to be taken to put things right. Catholics should pray, fast and do penance for a year in an effort to bring about the rebirth of the church in Ireland. And the Vatican will organise an Apostolic Visitation, a visit by its enforcers to some dioceses to ensure they are enforcing church law in dealing with child abuse. The same church law that has been previously used by bishops and church defenders to explain their cover up of abuse. You couldn't make it up could you?
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