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	Fall from Grace of the Vatican's Former 'Golden Boy' Is Complete By John Cooney Irish Independent July 14, 2011 http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/fall-from-grace-of-the-vaticans-former-golden-boy-is-complete-2821057.html YET another nail in the Irish church's coffin of lost credibility with the public, but the Cloyne Report does not go far enough in ensuring full church accountability to the Oireachtas. Both the Vatican and Maynooth will insist that a humble Irish church of the future will be unlike the arrogant church of the past. There is anger in church circles that Cloyne did not learn from the lessons of Ferns, and Cloyne may not ignite enough of the anger and revulsion provoked by the Ryan and Dublin reports. Abuse fatigue in the age of the euro bailout. There will be a tendency to say Cloyne is now a closed chapter as both former Bishop John Magee and his retired right-hand man, Monsignor Denis O'Callaghan, have again apologised for their failures in protecting children, and of reporting complaints to the HSE and the gardai. It can be argued that Cloyne is a tragic tale of the fall from grace of Bishop Magee. He walked with Popes. On St Patrick's Day 1987, he was promoted to Bishop of Cloyne at a glittering ceremony in St Peter's Basilica by Pope John Paul II. He was tipped as a future leader of the Irish church. Now, 24 years on and with the damning Cloyne Report, it has all ended in condemnation, disgrace and shame for the former papal secretary to three Popes, and latterly John Paul II's Master of Ceremonies. But it was the Rome of John Paul II that appointed him the shepherd of souls in the rural Cork diocese. So Bishop Magee's failures reflect badly on Rome's decision to appoint him to a leadership position in Ireland. Indeed, Judge Yvonne Murphy, by chronicling how Bishop Magee failed to complete canon law tribunals against suspected priest abusers, has provided Pope Benedict XVI with ammunition to put the ex-golden boy of Vatican altars on trial at a canonical tribunal. Instead of opening procedures to defrock Bishop Magee, the Vatican will take comfort in the fact that the Cloyne Report also provides evidence of how the Papal Nuncio in Dublin, Archbishop Guiseppe Leanza, used diplomatic immunity to escape probing by the Cloyne investigation. The commission asked the Nuncio to "submit to it any information which you would have about matters under investigation". Mindful of its rebuff by both the Nuncio and the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in refusing to co-operate with the Dublin investigation, the Cloyne Commission did not show the same fighting spirit to make Rome accountable. The Cloyne Commission meekly recognised it had no powers to compel the Nuncio, who politely confirmed to it that was so. Archbishop Leanza told Judge Murphy "he was unable to assist the commission" as a Nuncio "does not determine the handling of cases of sexual abuse in Ireland". "Like all ecclesiastical entities in Ireland, the diocese of Cloyne is bound to act in accordance with canon law and with all the civil laws and regulations of Ireland as may be applicable," the Nuncio said. This was the same Nuncio who was a shadowy presence at emergency meetings of Irish bishops on January 23, 2009, at Maynooth, where he privately urged Bishop Magee to stand aside and accept a temporary administrator. So successful was the Nuncio that cold January 'Night of the Long Knives" in 2009 that Bishop Magee was on his way out of "the Maynooth Club" -- a year later Pope Benedict XVI had accepted his subsequent offer of resignation. Yet, the commission does wag the finger of culpability at the Petrine doors. Referring to the bishops' 1996 framework document charting the road toward reporting abuse complaints to the gardai and the HSE, it boldly states that the Vatican's response was "entirely unhelpful" to any bishop who wanted to implement the agreed procedures. It records the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy told the Irish bishops that the framework document was "not an official document of the Episcopal Conference but merely a study document". The congregation also claimed the document contained "procedures and dispositions which appear contrary to canonical discipline, and which, if applied, could invalidate the acts of the same bishops who are attempting to put a stop to these problems". The Vatican also insisted a situation of mandatory reporting would give rise to "serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature". The report notes that those who thought like Monsignor O'Callaghan, criticised second only to Bishop Magee, "had their position greatly strengthened by the Vatican's reaction to the framework document". Meanwhile, over in Government Buildings Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Children's Minister Frances FitzGerald threw down a gauntlet to Maynooth rule by suggesting that the bishops should make public completed audits into another three Irish dioceses, including Raphoe in Donegal. As these documents remain in "the ownership" of the three bishops in question, they are likely to seek advice from their colleagues at next October's meeting of the Bishops' Conference in Maynooth about their publication. No doubt, the Papal Nuncio will be there to offer Rome's authoritative advice of: "Whatever you say, lads, say nothing." Contact: cooneyjohn@eircom.net
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