Vatican Admits 'Grave Failures' over Abuse, Brisbane Times, September 3, 2011

Vatican Admits 'Grave Failures' over Abuse

Brisbane Times
September 3, 2011

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/vatican-admits-grave-failures-over-abuse-20110903-1jrtd.html

The Vatican said it was \'sorry and ashamed\' over the scandal but that Mr Kenny\'s claims were \'unfounded\'

Enda Kenny accused the Catholic Church of putting its reputation ahead of child rape victims

The Vatican has acknowledged "grave failures" over the handling of a child sex abuse scandal involving priests in Ireland, but denied it tried to block investigations.

In a long-awaited response to an official report that had sparked outrage in Dublin, the Vatican on Saturday expressed deep concern at its findings and "abhorrence" for the crimes committed.

"The Holy See is deeply concerned at the findings of the commission of inquiry concerning grave failures in the ecclesiastical governance of the diocese of Cloyne," it said.

The Vatican also "wishes to state its abhorrence for the crimes of sexual abuse which took place in that diocese", it added.

Ettore Balestrero, the under-secretary for relations with states, handed over the response on Saturday to Helena Keleher, the Irish government's deputy ambassador to the Vatican.

July's publication of the report into more than a decade of abuse by priests in Cloyne triggered an unprecedented attack by Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who called the Catholic Church's behaviour "absolutely disgraceful".

While Pope Benedict last year wrote a letter to Irish Catholics expressing shame and remorse over the abuse of children by members of the clergy, campaigners say the church has been guilty of a cover-up.

In the statement on Saturday, the Vatican denied it had tried to block inquiries by the Irish authorities.

"The Holy See wishes to make it quite clear that it in no way hampered or sought to interfere in any inquiry into child sexual abuse in the diocese of Cloyne," it said.

The Cloyne report condemned the church's handling of abuse claims against 19 clerics in Cloyne between 1996 and 2009, saying it was "inadequate and inappropriate".

The report was strongly critical of the failures of the former bishop of Cloyne John Magee, who had been private secretary to three successive popes - Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II.

It said Magee, who quit last year, had "to a certain extent detached himself from the day to day management of child abuse cases".

In language never before used by an Irish leader, an outraged Kenny later told parliament the church's inability to deal with the cases showed a culture of "dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism" at the Vatican.

The Vatican subsequently recalled its envoy to Ireland in order to formulate an official response.

The Cloyne case is only the latest in a series of abuse scandals for the Catholic Church in Ireland that were first exposed in a 2009 report detailing hundreds of cases of sexual abuse of children by priests going back decades.

Church leaders in Ireland have also expressed outrage over the findings of the report. Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said in July that "great damage has been done to the credibility" of the church.