By Andrew Davis
The Bloomberg
July 25, 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-25/vatican-recalls-irish-ambassador-amid-allegations-on-sex-abuse-reporting.html
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| The Vatican recalled its ambassador to Ireland after Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church of attempting to hinder a probe into allegations of child sex-abuse by priests. |
The Vatican recalled its ambassador to Ireland after Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church of attempting to hinder a probe into allegations of child sex-abuse by priests.
After the publication of the so-called Cloyne report by the Irish government on July 13 "and in particular, given the reactions that followed it, the secretary of state has recalled the Papal Nuncio in Ireland, Giuseppe Leanza, for consultation," the Vatican said in a statement on its website today.
The Irish government had asked for a quick response from the Vatican on the church's handling of allegations against 33 clerics of sexual abuse of children in the Cloyne diocese in southern Ireland between 1996 and 2009. Kenny said on July 20 the report "exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate" an investigation of sex crimes by Roman Catholic clergy.
The official report shows the "elitism, the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day," Kenny told parliament in Dublin.
The Vatican pledged to respond "expediently" to the report, spokesman Federico Lombardi said in an e-mail the day after Kenny's remarks.
"The decision to recall the Papal Nuncio to the Vatican for consultations is a matter for the Holy See," Ireland's foreign ministry said in an e-mailed statement. "The government is awaiting the response of the Holy See to the recent report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne and it is to be expected that the Vatican would wish to consult in depth with the Nuncio on its response."
Ireland, where 85 percent of the population is Catholic, has been rocked by a series of child sex-abuse scandals involving priests in recent years. The government is looking for ways to compensate victims of abuse by priests. Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said religious congregations and the state must move to a 50-50 deal on paying an estimated 1.36 billion euros ($1.95 billion) in claims by sex-abuse victims.
Contact: abdavis@bloomberg.net
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