THE Pope was "visibly upset" by the stories of clerical child abuse, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said yesterday, with an announcement from the Vatican on the Ryan Report now likely.The archbishop was joined by Cardinal Sean Brady, Primate of All Ireland, at a meeting of the heads of the country’s 26 dioceses in Maynooth yesterday after having met Pope Benedict XVI in Rome last week.
The pontiff’s sadness at the contents of the Ryan Report, details of which were conveyed to him by Archbishop Martin and Cardinal Brady, was passed on to the other bishops.
In a brief statement Cardinal Brady outlined how he and Archbishop Martin had met with seven cardinals to discuss the Ryan Report while in Rome. They then met the Pope for 45 minutes last Friday and told him of the contents of the report.
Cardinal Brady said the Pope had listened carefully, attentively and sympathetically to what he was told during the meeting.
Archbishop Martin said: "He was very visibly upset, I would say, to hear of some of the things that are told in the Ryan Report and how children suffered from the very opposite of the love of God."
The Pope is likely to consult further with the seven cardinals regarding a response to the Ryan Report findings.
"I think the dialogue that we have entered will continue and something will come from that, when exactly I just don’t know," Archbishop Martin said.
Members of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI), who count among its number some of the congregations at the heart of the Ryan Report, were briefed on the Pope’s views by Cardinal Brady on Sunday night.
However, Archbishop Martin stressed the emphasis needed to be placed on listening to the survivors of the abuse as part of a process of "deep soul searching about what way the Church will look like in years to come".
"We want to avoid any idea that we are in conflict with CORI and the many congregations that belong to it," he said. "The message... we bring back with us is we have to listen to the victims, listen to the survivors."
Cardinal Brady said the Pope had stressed now was the time for a deep examination of life here in Ireland in the Church and at ways to prevent such abuses from ever happening again. The meeting in Maynooth is due to conclude tomorrow.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday survivors of abusive Church-run institutions will march in silence on Leinster House where representatives of 18 disgraced religious orders named in the Ryan inquiry have been invited to accept a petition ahead of a wreath-laying ceremony.
A debate on Judge Sean Ryan’s report is expected to be heard in the Dáil on Thursday.
The demonstration has been organised by Survivors of Institutional Abuse Ireland, Christine Buckley of Aislinn, Survivors of Child Abuse in Ireland, Right of Place and Michael O’Brien, former Fianna Fáil mayor of Clonmel.
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