IRISH Prime Minister Who Attacked Vatican, to Meet the Pope

By Gerard O'Connell
Vatican Insider
September 20, 2012

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/enda-kenny-ireland-18254/

[Enda Kenny's speech regarding the Cloyne Report]

Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny

Ireland’s Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny, will meet Pope Benedict XVI next Saturday, September 22, together with other European political leaders of the Centrist Democrats International Group, that is the global international political group dedicated to the promotion of Christian democracy. There is some speculation in Ireland that Kenny may use the occasion to invite the Pope to visit the country.

It will be their first encounter since Kenny openly attacked the Vatican in a speech to the Dail (the Irish Parliament’s lower house) on 20 July 2011 for failing to intervene in ways that could have prevented the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Republic.

He then accused the Vatican of putting the institution before children, dissuading Irish bishops from reporting abuse cases to the civil authorities, and attempting to obstruct a Government Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children by priests in Cloyne diocese in recent years. He said the Cloyne report revealed “the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism, that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day”.

The Holy See rejected those charges in its official response, 3 September 2011. But a week later, while still disagreeing on some questions, both sides went beyond that clash and committed themselves to engage henceforth in a “constructive dialogue” and “cooperation” on all matters related to the protection and welfare of children in Ireland.

Four months later, however, new tensions erupted between the Vatican and the Dublin Government led by Kenny when, on 3 November 2011, the latter announced that, for financial reasons, it was closing Ireland’s Embassy to the Holy See and replacing its resident ambassador with a non-resident one. Ireland thus became the first Catholic state in Europe not to have a resident ambassador to the Holy See.

Since then however a more constructive dialogue has developed between the two sides and informed sources now hope the Government may revise its November decision, and restore a resident ambassador with a downsized embassy to the Holy See.

Next Saturday’s papal audience will take place in the course of a two-day meeting in Rome of the Centrist Democrats International Group, hosted by Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti. The European People’s Party (EPP) is affiliated to the group. Kenny is participating as leader of Fine Gael, the major political party in Ireland’s coalition government, which is a member of the EPP.

It is only the second time that an Irish Prime Minister will meet Benedict XVI. His predecessor, Bertie Ahern, had a private meeting with the Pope on 7 July 2005. This time, however, the meeting will be very short, as Kenny will be part of a group of European political leaders at the audience and, it seems, each one – at least at Prime Ministerial or Presidential level -will have the opportunity of shaking hands and a brief verbal exchange with the pontiff.

Given the above mentioned clash with the Vatican, however, some consider this brief encounter as an ice-breaker. It sends a positive signal in terms of Vatican-Dublin relations, and it could also help Kenny with his electorate back home at a time when questions regarding abortion and children’s rights return to the centre stage in the political debate.