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	Pope Accepts Irish Bishop's Resignation CBC News March 24, 2010 http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/24/bishop-resign.html VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Irish Bishop John Magee, who has been accused of mishandling complaints of sex abuse in his diocese, the Vatican confirmed Wednesday. Magee, 73, was appointed bishop of the diocese of Cloyne in southern Ireland in 1987. He tendered his resignation earlier in March, according to a statement published on the diocese's website. Three Irish government-ordered investigations published from 2005 to 2009 have documented how thousands of Irish children suffered rape, molestation and other abuse by priests in their parishes and by nuns and brothers in boarding schools and orphanages. Irish bishops did not report a single case to police until 1996, after victims began to sue the church. In the online statement, Magee said he accepts "full responsibility" for criticism of his diocese's management of the abuse issues. "To those whom I have failed in any way, or through any omission of mine have made suffer, I beg forgiveness and pardon," Magee said in his statement. Benedict released a letter last Saturday apologizing for years of physical and sexual abuse suffered by Irish children at the hands of priests. Ireland's senior Catholic Church cardinal offered an apology earlier in March for his handling of a case involving an abusive priest decades ago.
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