IRELAND
The Press Association
One of the most senior members of the Catholic Church in Ireland has called on thousands of pilgrims to remember victims of clerical abuse.
As 50 protesters picketed the RDS where the 50th Eucharistic Congress opened on Sunday, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin reflected on the “darker side” of the Church.
“The 50 years since the Second Vatican Council have brought many graces to the Church in Ireland,” said Archbishop Martin. “But those 50 years have also been marked with a darker side, of sinful and criminal abuse and neglect of those weakest in our society: children, who should have been the object of the greatest care and support and Christ-like love.”
As the Archbishop made his opening address, clerical abuse victim campaigners Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (Irish SOCA) staged a peaceful protest at the gates of the RDS, where the Eucharistic Congress is being held over the next week.
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