RTE News
September 3, 2011
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0903/cloyne.html
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| Holy See denies it sought to interfere with Irish Civil Law |
[with video]
The Vatican has issued its response to criticism levelled against it by the Government following publication of the Cloyne report.
In a 25-page statement, the Vatican rebuts remarks made by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil in July.
The report on the Cloyne Diocese found that Bishop John Magee falsely told the Government and the Health Service Executive that the Catholic Diocese was reporting all allegations of clerical child sexual abuse to the civil authorities.
The statement from the Vatican says "it has significant reservations that the speech made by Enda Kenny TD in the Dáil on the 20th of July, in particular, the accusation that the Holy See attempted to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign democratic republic, is unfounded."
The statement added that the Holy See wishes to make it quite clear that it in no way hampered or sought to interfere in any inquiry into cases of child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne.
Furthermore, the Vatican says that at no stage did the Holy See seek to interfere with Irish Civil law or impeded the civil authority in the exercise of its duties.
The Holy See observes that there is no evidence cited anywhere in the Cloyne Report, to support the claim that its (i.e. the Vatican's) supposed intervention contributed to the undermining of the child protection framework and guidelines of the Irish State.
The Cloyne Report scrutinized how both Church and State authorities handled complaints and allegations of child sexual abuse made against 19 priests working under Bishop John Magee in the Co Cork diocese between 1996 and 2009.
The response from the Vatican was prompted by scathing criticism levelled against it by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil in July in which he castigated what he termed "the dysfunction, disconnection and elitism" in the Vatican.
The Vatican also responded to claims in the Cloyne Report that it referred to a Framework Document, drawn up by Irish Bishops, on how to deal with allegations of child sexual abuse as "not an official document..but merely a study document."
It says that taken out of context the comments in the letter from Archbishop Storero to Irish Bishops "could be open to misinterpretation, giving rise to understandable criticism."
It says this description was "not a dismissal of the serious efforts undertaken by Irish Bishops to address the grave problem of child sexual abuse."
Rather the congregation "wished to ensure that nothing contained in the Framework Document would give rise to difficulties should appeals be lodged to the Holy See."
The Vatican also refutes the claim that Irish Bishops sought recognition from Rome for the Framework Document but it was not forthcoming.
It says Irish Bishops did not, under Canon Law, seek 'recongnito' for the Framework Document, therefore the Holy See cannot be criticised for failing to grant what was never requested in the first place.
However, according to the Vatican, this would not have prevented applying the Framework Document in individual Dioceses.
Cardinal Sean Brady welcomed the publication of what he called the comprehensive reply of the Holy See to the Irish government.
He said it conveyed the profound abhorrence of the Holy See for the crime of sexual abuse and its sorrow and shame for the terrible suffering which the victims and their families had endured within the Church.
He said he believed it would contribute to the healing of survivors of sexual abuse by priests.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said the response was detailed and comprehensive and he hoped it would be understood and not be an "occasion just for added polemics."
He said while some had argued that the intervention of the then Papal Nuncio had created the opportunity to ignore guidelines he thought the intervention did "not in fact impede the Irish Bishops."
He said there were some people who regarded only their own views and would take no note of any documents or even approved papal norms.
"These people may be few but the damage they caused was huge."
Kenny does not regret Dáil speech
The Taoiseach says he will not be making a detailed statement on the Vatican document until he has read and studied it.
However, Enda Kenny said he did not regret his Dáil speech criticising the Vatican in the wake of the Cloyne report.
Speaking in the Curragh, Mr Kenny said the Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, had asked the Papal Nuncio to respond on behalf of the Vatican.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, also speaking at the Curragh, said it was important that the Government gave detailed consideration to the Vatican's response.
He said he was not going to pre-judge that response until he had an opportunity to read it.
Asked about the state of relations between the Vatican and the Republic, he said the Vatican's response would get reasonable consideration and reflection.
In a statement Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said it was only possible to give an initial reaction at this time but said that "some of the argumentation advanced by the Holy See... is very technical and legalistic.
"The Government's concerns were never about the status of church documents but rather about the welfare of children.
Referring to the Framework Document he said he remained of the view that the letter from the then Papal Nuncio "provided a pretext for some to avoid full cooperation with the Irish civil authorities."
Speaking on Vatican Radio today, Fr Federico Lombardi said: "The document is clearly structured and seeks to give detailed and documented answers to all the questions raised, inserting them into a broader perspective".
"The text of the document shows how the Holy See has given very serious and respectful consideration to the queries and criticism it has received, and has undertaken to answer them serenely and exhaustively, avoiding polemics even when giving clear answers to the accusations made".
The Holy See's Press Office Director continued that the Holy See hopes its response "will achieve the fundamental shared goal of contributing to rebuilding a climate of trust and co-operation with the Irish authorities, which is essential for an effective commitment on the part of the Church and society to guarantee the primary goal: protecting children and young people".
Cardinal Sean Brady has welcomed the Vatican's response describing it as carefully prepared and respectfully presented.
He said the time taken to prepare the reply, and its content, indicates the commitment on the part of the Holy See to deal with this matter earnestly, fairly and sensitively.
Abuse survivor and campaigner Marie Collins said the Vatican reponse showed the importance of mandatory reporting of abuse becoming law in Ireland.
'One in Four' disappointed at response
The group 'One in Four' has said it is very disappointed by the Vatican's response but 'not terribly surprised'.
Executive Director Maeve Lewis said the statement once again shows the Vatican's refusal to accept any level of responsibility for the "culture that pertained in the Catholic Church in Ireland and indeed throughout the world, where the safety of children took much less priority than the status and reputation of the church".
She said Vatican's attempts to show in detail that their words were misconstrued and misinterpreted was not very helpful and that the statement fails to explain why the Vatican refused to participate or make documentation available to the Cloyne inquiry.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Ms Lewis said: "I think, in their castigation, really, of the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, I think it shows their profound misunderstanding of the depths and level of anger and frustration shared by Irish Catholics at the church failures"
Ms Lewis said she hopes when the Government has the chance to review the document that their response will not stray very far from the remarks made in the Dáil Mr Kenny.
Abuse victim Andrew Madden said the Vatican response showed that "every effort" was made "to continue to find ways for the Holy See to absolve itself of any responsibility" for the issue of sexual abuse by priests.
Cloyne inquiry was third into abuse allegations in Ireland
The Cloyne Report was the third such report into allegations of abuse in an individual diocese in Ireland.
Its time span - from 1996 to 2009 - was the most recent of all the investigations.
The report claimed that the Vatican response could "only be described as unsupportive especially in relation to the civil authorities."
It also said that the Vatican's decision to categorise a Framework Document on child sexual abuse, agreed by the Irish Bishops Conference in 1996, as "not an official document" effectively gave individual Irish bishops "the freedom to ignore" the guidelines.
Describing the response of the Diocese itself as "inadequate and inappropriate", the report found that the then Bishop of Cloyne, Dr Magee "took little or no active interest" in the management of clerical child sexual abuse cases until 2008.
The Government reacted swiftly, with the Minister for Justice announcing plans to introduce legislation to make it a criminal offence not to report the sexual abuse of a child or vulnerable adult.
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