Irish victims of child abuse angry at Vatican response - Feature

Tue, 15 Dec 2009

Dublin - Pope Benedict's "distress" at a report highly critical of the Irish Catholic Church's handling of cases involving child sex abuse by priests was met with skepticism from victims of abuse in Ireland. The survivors support group One in Four has described the Papal response as "disingenuous and inadequate."

The Pope's statement last Friday followed talks between the pontiff and top Irish clerics summoned to Rome to discuss the scandal over how child sexual abuse complaints were dealt with by the authorities from 1975 to 2004.

"The Holy Father shares the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland, and he is united with them in prayer at this difficult time in the life of the Church," the statement said.

The Irish Commission of Investigation's report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, released in November and known as the Murphy report, looked at how child sexual abuse complaints were dealt with by the authorities from 1975 to 2004.

The report details the abuse perpetrated by priests against more than 300 victims and says there is no doubt that clerical child abuse was covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin and other church authorities.

Although five bishops were named, the Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray was singled out for criticism for his "inexcusable" handling of a child abuse case.

Maeve Lewis, Chief Executive of One in Four, said that an apology for the Catholic Church's culture of secrecy and cover-up was required.

"To say that he (the Pope) is disturbed and outraged by the accounts of clerical abuse is disingenuous at the very least, given that the files of the clerical sex abusers have been routinely sent to the Vatican over the years," she told the Irish Independent newspaper.

"He must have been aware of the extent of the problem when, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he presided over the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith," she said.

The pontiff's role in policing procedures for dealing with child abuse was well-documented in the BBC Panorama documentary Sex Crimes and The Vatican in 2006.

The documentary presented by child abuse survivor and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland revealed how the then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote to Catholic bishops in 2001 to remind them of the penalties for leaking details of inquiries into offenses such as clerical sex abuse

The then cardinal issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety, the BBC reported.

The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it.

To keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeated the allegations they would be excommunicate, the report said.

Cardinal Ratzinger reinforced the strict cover-up policy by introducing the principle that the Vatican must have what it calls exclusive competence.

This meant that all child abuse allegations should be dealt with directly by Rome, Panorama reported.

Another survivor, Andrew Madden, has said that Benedict's statement meant nothing.

"What I'm expecting is for five bishops to resign, and whether I hear it from the Vatican or Twitter I don't care," he said.

"That would be the appropriate response from the Church. Words and prayers and offers to pray for the victims are just meaningless drivel," he said. "Most victims say that the five bishops that are still in place and who were in place at the time of the abuse should resign," Madden said.

Mervyn Rundle was abused by Father Thomas Naughton. The Murphy report branded Bishop Murray's failure to properly investigate Naughton following complaints as "inexcusable".

Bishop Murray's resignation was expected after he went to Rome to meet with the pontiff on December 7, but he is reported to be still battling to hold on to his position.

Rundle is now tired of waiting for the "appropriate" response.

"They have riled me up so much that I can safely say I'm taking it further, taking it to the criminal end of things," he told the Irish Independent.

"I'm pushing the garda (Irish police) now to get a criminal case, and if I don't get any satisfaction from that I'm going to the European courts."

The legal offense under which clerical abuse victims could bring such a case has been abolished and replaced by a stronger "reckless endangerment" charge introduced in 2006.

But that charge could not be leveled retrospectively against authority figures in the Catholic Church, Irish media reported.