Taoiseach Meets with Pope Benedict 16th

Newstalk
September 22, 2012

http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/taoiseach-meets-with-pope-benedict-16th/


A meeting is underway between the Taoiseach and Pope Benedict this afternoon for the first time since Mr Kenny launched a fierce attack on the Vatican’s record on handling clerical child sex abuse.

Enda Kenny has insisted he’s not at all uncomfortable about today’s encounter with the Pope – which is part of a visit by a group of centre right politicians.

In his July 2011 speech, the Taoiseach accused the Vatican of dysfunction and elitism in its failure to tackle the clerical abuse problem.

Today’s meeting comes as Australia’s Catholic Church confirmed more than 600 cases of clerical sex abuse in the state of Victoria since the 1930?s.

Campaigners say the true number of abuse victims could be up to 10,000.