Tyrone Times
January 20, 2011
http://www.tyronetimes.co.uk/2617/Papal-visitors-arrive-to-investigate.6697228.jp
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| Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor |
A TEAM of Papal Visitors including psychiatrists and a former Archbishop has arrived in County Tyrone to investigate the child abuse crisis that has rocked the Catholic Church.
The unprecedented probe was ordered by Pope Benedict last March in response to the shocking Murphy Report into top level cover-ups of paedophile clerics throughout Ireland.
The investigators have been interviewing victims and their families in Cookstown and Armagh.
The meetings were convened by Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, who is the former leader of the church in England and Wales. A spokesman said he had already met with some victims of abuse in the archdiocese.
The aim of the visitation is to identify whether reforms of the local Church, seminaries and religious communities have been put in place, especially the effectiveness of current processes in responding to abuse.
According to a spokesperson for the Catholic Church, it will not be an investigation into individual cases of abuse nor a trial to judge past events, but the visitors will have to identify the explicit problems that may require some assistance from the Holy See.
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