ALL-IRELAND primate Cardinal Sean Brady has welcomed the Vatican’s response and claimed it conveyed profound abhorrence for the abuse, and sorrow and shame for victims’ sufferings.
"I believe the response has been carefully prepared and respectfully presented," the cardinal said.
"The time taken to prepare the reply, and its content, indicates the commitment on the part of the Holy See to deal with this matter earnestly, fairly and sensitively.
"It shows an appreciation of the seriousness of the questions raised and of the importance, especially for survivors of abuse, of effectively combating this crime.
"I ask people to read the document for themselves and to evaluate it objectively.
"I believe it will contribute to the healing of those who have been hurt and also to a closer working together of all concerned with the safeguarding of children."
In the lengthy response, the Vatican flatly rejected claims by Taoiseach Enda Kenny that it tried to frustrate an inquiry into clerical child abuse, insisting the allegations are unfounded.
Mr Kenny had launched an unprecedented attack on the Vatican in the Dáil, claiming the probe exposed a dysfunctional, elite hierarchy determined to frustrate investigations.
But the Holy See said the Cloyne report did not back up the Taoiseach’s allegations.
The Vatican said: "In particular, the accusation that the Holy See attempted ‘to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago’, which Mr Kenny made no attempt to substantiate, is unfounded."
The Cloyne report, published in July, was the fourth major report in six years into the Church’s cover-ups of clerical abuse.
The Cork diocese was the latest arm of the Church to be exposed, with former bishop John Magee, a Vatican aide to three Popes, singled out for misleading investigators and "dangerous" failures on child protection.
His resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict last year.
The Vatican claimed it in no way hampered or interfered in the inquiry into child sexual abuse cases in the diocese.
"Furthermore, at no stage did it seek to interfere with Irish civil law or impede the civil authority in the exercise of its duties."
The Holy See said it was sorry and ashamed for the "terrible sufferings which the victims of abuse and their families have had to endure".
The Vatican said the report "marks a further stage in the long and difficult path of ascertaining the truth, of penance and purification, and of healing and renewal of the Church in Ireland".
"[The Holy See] also recognises the understandable anger, disappointment and sense of betrayal of those affected — particularly the victims and their families — by these vile and deplorable acts and by the way in which they were sometimes handled by Church authorities, and for all of this it wishes to reiterate its sorrow for what happened."
"The time taken to prepare the reply, and its content, indicates the commitment on the part of the Holy See to deal with this matter earnestly, fairly and sensitively.
"It shows an appreciation of the seriousness of the questions raised and of the importance, especially for survivors of abuse, of effectively combating this crime.
"I ask people to read the document for themselves and to evaluate it objectively.
"I believe it will contribute to the healing of those who have been hurt and also to a closer working together of all concerned with the safeguarding of children."
In the lengthy response, the Vatican flatly rejected claims by Taoiseach Enda Kenny that it tried to frustrate an inquiry into clerical child abuse, insisting the allegations are unfounded.
Mr Kenny had launched an unprecedented attack on the Vatican in the Dáil, claiming the probe exposed a dysfunctional, elite hierarchy determined to frustrate investigations.
But the Holy See said the Cloyne report did not back up the Taoiseach’s allegations.
The Vatican said: "In particular, the accusation that the Holy See attempted ‘to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago’, which Mr Kenny made no attempt to substantiate, is unfounded."
The Cloyne report, published in July, was the fourth major report in six years into the Church’s cover-ups of clerical abuse.
The Cork diocese was the latest arm of the Church to be exposed, with former bishop John Magee, a Vatican aide to three Popes, singled out for misleading investigators and "dangerous" failures on child protection.
His resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict last year.
The Vatican claimed it in no way hampered or interfered in the inquiry into child sexual abuse cases in the diocese.
"Furthermore, at no stage did it seek to interfere with Irish civil law or impede the civil authority in the exercise of its duties."
The Holy See said it was sorry and ashamed for the "terrible sufferings which the victims of abuse and their families have had to endure".
The Vatican said the report "marks a further stage in the long and difficult path of ascertaining the truth, of penance and purification, and of healing and renewal of the Church in Ireland".
"[The Holy See] also recognises the understandable anger, disappointment and sense of betrayal of those affected — particularly the victims and their families — by these vile and deplorable acts and by the way in which they were sometimes handled by Church authorities, and for all of this it wishes to reiterate its sorrow for what happened."