ROME (ITALY)
Crux
February 23, 2019
By Christopher White
Ireland’s representative to Pope Francis’s abuse summit said that he believes the Catholic Church is moving “much closer” to a worldwide policy of permanently removing priests from ministry after a single case of abuse.
He said the “default position” should be that abusive priests “will not minister in any capacity, but also that you will be monitored very closely, both in the Church and by civil authorities.”
“In the case of someone who has abused a child, I don’t think there’s any way they can return to pastoral ministry,” said Archbishop Eamon Martin, speaking to reporters on Saturday.
“I think there is now a very strong realization of the heinous nature of the sinful and criminal act” of abuse, said Martin, while also adding that in speaking with survivors, many of them warned against removing abusive priests from the clerical state as they might be a danger or “increased risk” to other children or vulnerable adult if they are no longer monitored by the Church.
As Archbishop of Armagh and the Primate of All Ireland, Martin said that he supported the discussions during the past days of the summit on the need for greater transparency.
“Secrecy must go out the window,” when it comes to the abuse of children, he said. “Secrecy has been one of the root causes of the problem we are in today.”
Speaking of his own experience in Ireland, one of the countries hardest hit by the clergy abuse crisis, Martin said “my files have to be open.”
“Anything that I have that may have been sent here to the Holy See…it’s open to my national board, it’s open under proper rules of disclosure in legal cases to the police and civil authority.”
Martin said that all participants in the pope’s four-day long summit on sex abuse must be “committed to go home with actions,” and he said for him, the issue of accountability would serve as his homework, particularly when it comes to overseeing bishops.
He also said that the task of protecting children must be first and foremost a local response.
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