RTE News
December 11, 2010
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1211/abuse.html
Wikileak cables have shed new light on tensions between the Irish Government and the Vatican during the Murphy investigation into clerical child abuse.
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| Clerical Child Abuse - Wikileaks release highlights tensions |
Wikileaks cables have shed new light on the tensions between the Irish Government and the Vatican during the Murphy investigation into clerical child abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese.
A leaked memo from the US Embassy to the Holy See suggests that many in the Vatican were offended by requests for information from the Murphy Commission, which they saw as an affront to Vatican sovereignty.
According to Wikileaks transcripts of cables from a US diplomat in the Vatican to Washington, many in the Vatican believed the Government here had not done enough to respect and protect the Vatican's sovereignty in the affair.
The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone wrote to the Irish Embassy requesting that proper diplomatic channels be followed.
Last year Judge Yvonne Murphy's independent Commission investigating the Catholic Church's handling of abuse allegations in the Dublin Archdiocese said the Vatican had failed to acknowledge a number of written requests for information.
Instead, the Vatican had told the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See that the requests should come through him and not directly from the commission.
After the publication of the report, Taoiseach Brian Cowen agreed that the commission had been incorrect not to have used diplomatic channels.
Responding to the leaks, a prominent survivor of clerical abuse, Andrew Madden, said the Government had protected the Vatican's sovereignty in the affair and had shielded Rome from scrutiny on clerical abuse.
A spokesman for the Vatican said it had no comment to make on the controversy.
Maeve Lewis, Executive Director of One in Four said she thought it was laughable that the Vatican would have been offended by the request for information from the Murphy Commission.
She said this supports the view that the Catholic Church has continuously failed to accept institutional responsibility for sexual crimes against children
She said it was very regrettable that the Vatican had not co-operated with the inquiry at the time.
She said there had been a number of abuse survivors in touch with One in Four since news broke about the leaked cables on the Wikileaks website.
Other leaked cables reveal the extent to which the Vatican attempts to exert its influence on the world stage, lobbying to keep Turkey out of the European Union, and arguing for a ban on human cloning.
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