IRELAND
Reuters
(Reuters) – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, the Vatican said on Monday, drawing a line under a career plagued by accusations that he kept quiet about the sexual abuse of children by clergy.
Cardinal Sean Brady announced his plan to retire in August, just before he turned 75, at which age all bishops must offer their resignation to the pontiff, who can reject or accept it.
Brady became embroiled in a child sex abuse scandal which has rocked the Church in Ireland when a BBC television documentary aired in 2012 said he had failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused by a priest in 1975.
The Vatican said Brady would be succeeded by Monsignor Eamonn Martin, 52, who was appointed last year as “coadjutor” archbishop of Armagh, an important diocese in Northern Ireland whose archbishop has the title “Primate of All Ireland”.
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