QuoteIrish prime minister slams Vatican over child sex abuseBy the CNN Wire Staff
July 21, 2011 -- Updated 0256 GMT (1056 HKT)
(CNN) -- Ireland's prime minister has launched a stinging attack on the Vatican, a week after a report said the Catholic Church in Ireland did not take serious steps to stamp out child abuse by priests, even after the scandal blew up worldwide.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny said the Cloyne report, focused on the area around the southern city of Cork, had exposed the Vatican as seeking to frustrate an inquiry into child sex abuse for its own benefit.
"The rape and torture of children were downplayed or 'managed' to uphold, instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and reputation," he told Ireland's lower house of parliament, or Dail, as it debated a motion on the report.
On listening to the evidence of humiliation and betrayal, Kenny said, "The Vatican's reaction was to parse and analyze it with the gimlet eye of a canon lawyer ... this calculated, withering position being the polar opposite of the radicalism, humility and compassion upon which the Roman Church was founded."
The report exposed "a tale of a frankly brazen disregard for protecting children," Kenny added, as he praised the courage of the victims of abuse who had spoken out to investigators.
Released July 13, the report into abuses in the diocese of Cloyne demolished claims by the Catholic Church in Ireland that policies it put in place in 1996 had enabled it to get a handle on the problem.
It also accused Bishop John Magee, who was responsible for policing abuse in his diocese, of not backing the policy himself and failing to take action against abusers.
While criticizing the Vatican, Kenny also said the state shared some of the blame for failing to "get its house in order" on child protection.
"For too long Ireland has neglected its children," he said, as he announced moves to introduce new legislation that would put "children first."
The government "awaits the considered response of the Holy See," he said.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See press office, said in a statement Tuesday that some criticisms of the Vatican went too far and "demonstrate little awareness of what the Holy See has actually done over the years to help effectively address the problem."
Referring to a 1997 letter from the Vatican's ambassador to Ireland to Irish bishops, which was highlighted in the report, he said, "There is no reason to interpret that letter as being intended to cover up cases of abuse."
His statement was not the formal Vatican response, he said, which "will be forthcoming in the most appropriate time and manner."
Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter called Lombardi's statement "unfortunate and disingenuous" and said he had expected a more formal response from the Vatican.
The 421-page Cloyne report details how complaints against 19 clerics in the diocese were dealt with between 1996 and 2009.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/20/ireland.church.abuse/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Absolutely appalling. :mad:
Odd, you were defending the sexual abuse of children less then half an hour ago in another thread.
Quotecrossdressing kiddie-fiddlers
Gays?
Quote from: Razgovory on July 21, 2011, 07:18:11 AM
Odd, you were defending the sexual abuse of children less then half an hour ago in another thread.
God, you are a retard.
Quote from: Martinus on July 21, 2011, 07:21:39 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on July 21, 2011, 07:18:11 AM
Odd, you were defending the sexual abuse of children less then half an hour ago in another thread.
God, you are a retard.
He has a point. You'd be screaming bloody murder if these were regular gays, rather than gay catholics.
Quote from: Martinus on July 21, 2011, 07:21:39 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on July 21, 2011, 07:18:11 AM
Odd, you were defending the sexual abuse of children less then half an hour ago in another thread.
God, you are a retard.
QuoteI know it's gleeful for you lower class* types to see one of your betters brought down but thankfully most of Europe does not work like this.
http://languish.org/forums/index.php?topic=5448.60
QuoteSo are you guys happy to live in a society where a mere accusation from a woman is enough to get a man arrested?
There is a whole world of difference between "treating accusations seriously" and arresting someone on a purely she-said-he-said basis.
http://languish.org/forums/index.php?topic=5448.45
I don't know Raz... it's always worthwhile to piss off Marty, sure, but surely you don't want to take the side of the child abusers and those who protected them? The pedophilia scandals in Ireland are a fair bit beyond he-said-he-said.
Out of curiousity - is there any evidence that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has taken any really major and concrete steps to reform its internal mechanisms in light of the horrendous and apparently world-wide child abuse scandal that has unfolded over the last couple of decades?
From what I understand, the main evidence is that the Catholic Church says that they have.
Now, they may be correct, but I don't think any further evidence has been widely disseminated. The fact that there are cases as recent as 2009 suggests to me that whatever the Church has done in the most recent cases is a good indication of the "new and improved" approach to this terrible situation.
There will always be clergy sexing up the kids, and there's nothing the Catholic Church can do to stop it. The question is how the Church responds to it.
'tis a shame Dermot Morgan is dead.
The specials Father Ted could have...
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2011, 01:50:49 PM
There will always be clergy sexing up the kids, and there's nothing the Catholic Church can do to stop it. The question is how the Church responds to it.
Exactly. Are they still, as an organization, shielding abusive priests and the like?
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2011, 01:50:49 PM
There will always be clergy sexing up the kids, and there's nothing the Catholic Church can do to stop it. The question is how the Church responds to it.
Yeah. I think the issue is that the Church's response (and the Irish state's as well) has been absolutely abysmal.
Quote from: Jacob on July 21, 2011, 02:06:53 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2011, 01:50:49 PM
There will always be clergy sexing up the kids, and there's nothing the Catholic Church can do to stop it. The question is how the Church responds to it.
Yeah. I think the issue is that the Church's response (and the Irish state's as well) has been absolutely abysmal.
Even purely as a cynical matter of expediency and regardless of ethics or morality, it is doing the Church as an organization temendous harm. I know lots of religious Catholics through my in-laws, and they are mostly horrified and disgusted.
Quote from: Jacob on July 21, 2011, 12:33:30 PM
I don't know Raz... it's always worthwhile to piss off Marty, sure, but surely you don't want to take the side of the child abusers and those who protected them? The pedophilia scandals in Ireland are a fair bit beyond he-said-he-said.
I didn't take a side. I'm pointing out that he doesn't care about rape or child abuse, only that an organization he doesn't like is being hurt. In fact, Marty happily takes the side of rapists so long as they are rich, powerful but not religious. I think that Marty opposes any type of sex crime, because he fears it might bleed over into restricting homosexuality. In my opinion Marty would tolerate making rape and sexual abuse legal if meant preventing any type of sanction on homosexual behavior.
Quote from: Malthus on July 21, 2011, 01:07:36 PM
Out of curiousity - is there any evidence that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has taken any really major and concrete steps to reform its internal mechanisms in light of the horrendous and apparently world-wide child abuse scandal that has unfolded over the last couple of decades?
I believe what's been established in the Catholic Church in the UK is considered a world model for dealing with child abuse, similarly what's been established within the Irish Church since these results is believed to be pretty robust.
The speech is remarkable, the sort of thing you could never before imagine hearing in the Dail. Well done to Enda Kenny.