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Vatican visitors to publish report on Church child abuse

Pope Benedict’s hand-picked ‘Apostolic Visitation’ will publish a summary of their findings later this morning.

Updated, 10:37 - Vatican visitors propose Church reforms to deal with abuse fallout >

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POPE BENEDICT XVI’S hand-picked team of high-ranking clerics will today publish their findings of a visit to Ireland following the fallout from the various clerical abuse scandals.

The Apostolic Visitation, led by the Archbishop of New York now-Cardinal Timothy Dolan, visited in 2010 after the Pope issued a letter to the people of Ireland expressing his dismay at the Murphy and Ryan reports into abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin and in residential institutions.

The pontiff had assigned six teams to visit all four of Ireland’s archdioceses, seminaries and other religious orders.

The report is expected to make the case for a rationalisation in the number of dioceses in Ireland (of which there are 26 at present), as well as imposing greater oversight on training seminaries.

The report comes two years and one day after the Pope’s pastoral letter, written “to express my closeness to you and to propose a path of healing, renewal and reparation”.

“In order to recover from this grievous wound, the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenceless children,” the pontiff wrote at the time.

“Such an acknowledgement, accompanied by sincere sorrow for the damage caused to these victims and their families, must lead to a concerted effort to ensure the protection of children from similar crimes in the future.”

Relationships between Ireland and the Church have become even more strained since the writing of the letter, with the publication of further reports detailing abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne in Co Cork, and the closure of Ireland’s embassy to the Holy See.

Read: Catholic Church rejects claims ‘very few’ abuse victims received support >

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15 Comments
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    Mute Spillinksuz
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    Mar 20th 2012, 8:06 AM

    I don’t care what that man has to say now! They are corrupt anyway!
    I only care that our justice system kicks in and does what it should be….and with full force!
    Every one of the pedophiles- and especially every one that lied to protect them should be rotting in jail

    37
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    Mute Biddy Mulligan
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    Mar 20th 2012, 8:18 AM

    Our justice system? Lies, corruption…

    The irish justice system is a joke and will do nothing to the likes of these scumbags! The people need to stand up to paedos, child rapists, corrupt scumbags and liars!

    Incidentally, and im not condoning this in any way, but why do we never hear of known paedophile priests getting beaten up on the streets?

    21
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    Mute Biddy Mulligan
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    Mar 20th 2012, 8:00 AM

    Report conclusion:

    “We need to cut this problem off at its source”

    “yes, we really must stop touching kids”

    “what?!!? No, we need to stop our boys from telling!”

    (go and watch some south park if you dont get it!)

    30
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    Mute Spillinksuz
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    Mar 20th 2012, 8:35 AM

    Well said Biddy!
    And equally….why don’t we take our banners outside the gates if bishops etc…?
    I think it’s time for us to push our government harder….but most tds and
    Ministers either worship or they have strong family ties to the church!

    15
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    Mute John Murphy
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    Mar 20th 2012, 11:19 AM

    Ever wonder why Roman Catholic bishops who covered up child abuse were not prosecuted? Under common law it was a criminal offence not to report crimes such as rape child sex abuse until 1997 when the then government abolished this provision in law thereby protecting Roman Catholic bishops from prosecution for failing to disclose information.
    So, dear Spillinksuz, even if our esteemed justice system was disposed to prosecute and convict these criminals the law that would have enabled it was removed by the government.
    An article by Ivana Bacik published in 2002 sets the situation out clearly:
    http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/change-in-the-law-means-there-is-now-no-criminal-offence-for-failure-to-report-crime-290234.html

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    Mute Denis Walsh
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    Mar 20th 2012, 8:18 AM

    It’s the same people on here bitching all the time. They complain when the pope does nothing and they complain when he tries to do good. How can the victims have any healing when the same small minded individuals continue to complain? The days of the abuse are over and now it’s time to let the healing begin.

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    Mute Scully Pj
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    Mar 20th 2012, 9:29 AM

    Well said Denis. Unfortunately there is always a sea of hate here for the church. Today with new regulations and controls the Catholic church is one of the safest places for children in the world, even safer than state institutions. So it’s not surprising to see the venom and violence being proposed towards great men who give their lives for others, by persons who I suspect have done little for others.

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    Mute Cyril Butler
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    Mar 20th 2012, 10:09 AM

    The dear leader Kim Jong il was also a victim of a western media bias. He never starved his people but cared for them dearly.

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    Mute mike
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    Mar 20th 2012, 8:36 AM

    A Report by a group who covered up the abuse and helped the pedophiles hide and evade justice. This should be balanced NOT

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    Mute Desmond O'Toole
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    Mar 20th 2012, 9:38 AM

    Does anyone even listen to this shower anymore?

    12
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    Mute Emsy wemsy
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    Mar 20th 2012, 10:27 AM

    Check our Dennis and scully above…..apparently some still think this is all fine and dandy

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    Mute Scully Pj
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    Mar 20th 2012, 11:16 AM

    The church is the great repository of Truth. Individuals always have and will in the future make a mess. But Truth is Truth. If individuals wish to ignore the Truth because of the gross behaviour of individuals, then they spite their own prospects of Happiness, because they cannot separate the message from the 2% of the messengers who carried out heinous acts.
    The many who write off thousands of years of wisdom in a whim, only harm themselves. Being popular has little to do with being right.

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    Mute Paulie K
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    Mar 20th 2012, 11:31 AM

    the catholic church. one woman’s attempt to cover up an affair that got out of hand. laughable that people still consider it “truth”.

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    Mute Jenn Byrne
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    Mar 20th 2012, 11:33 AM

    @ Scully, in WHAT way is the church the great repository of Truth? Thousands of years of wisdom? There are grains of wisdom in the Bible true but there are also beaches of fallacy. And in relation to those grains of wisdom that do exist, the Catholic church has been moving further and further from them in the last 1500 years. Now, Scully, what about the sale of inulgences? The mass poverty throughout the world which the Vatican Museums wealth alone could alleviate incredibly? The attitude against contraception even among the third world were STI’s are rampant and younger and younger children are being affected? The forced celibacy of priests which was a direct contributing factor to these abuses of young boys and girls (If you don’t think so then why is such abuse absent from non-celibate denominations?), The magdalene laundries, The exclusion of women from the clergy and their supression through doctrine, the advocated forced cliterectomies of lesbians and/or women who’ liked sex a bit much’ in the early 20th century, the inquisition, the COVERING UP of the abuse scandal. This comes from the level of the Pope down Scully, how is it Truth when deception is the name of the game for an institution that cares more about saving face than saving the innocence of children and of making amens to those children. Wisdom comes from recognising lost causes and seeing through the glamour to the heart. You think your soul will be saved by paying attention to scam artists and reading a list o rules. No. If salvation is something that will occur it will occur through good actions and intent. Not going to a building every Sunday and hyming to your hearts content. Being ‘Christian’ or ‘religious’ does not make you a good person. Being a good person makes you a good person. And being a respository of Truth requires you to be Truthful!

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    Mute Aine Nibhern
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    Mar 20th 2012, 9:30 AM

    I am hoping that children are protected from potential abuse in the year 2012.

    11
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