GROUPS supporting victims of child clerical sex abuse said the Vatican was indulging in "pure spin" in its response to the fallout from the Cloyne report.
In a firm rebuttal issued by the Holy See at the weekend, the Vatican said Taoiseach Enda Kenny was wrong to castigate the role of the Catholic hierarchy and to claim that the Church had specifically stymied investigations into child sex abuse.
In its response, the Holy See said the Cloyne report had highlighted "very serious and disturbing failings ... by clerics in the Diocese of Cloyne".
However, it then said it had "reservations" over aspects of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s speech in the Dáil on July 20, claiming: "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."
Campaigner Andrew Madden, who wrote the book Altar Boy, said the Vatican’s response to the Government’s demand for explanations over the findings of the Cloyne report was an attempt "to absolve the Vatican".
He said the Vatican’s statement was "a very legalistic, technical, carefully constructed attempt" to absolve itself from the covering up by bishops of child sex abuse by priests.
"They try to localise," he said.
"When it was the Murphy report it was Dublin [who failed], when it was Ferns it was Ferns. What they ignore is that it was also Philadelphia, it was also Boston."
At the centre of the Holy See’s statement is a counter-argument to the Cloyne Report’s finding that the Vatican had diminished child protection guidelines in 1997 as a "study document", but Mr Madden said what the Vatican had said at that time was a "very clear instruction" to its members to follow canon law.
He described the Vatican’s interpretation of the 1997 letter now as "pure spin".
As for the reference by Mr Kenny, he said he had checked with Mr Kenny’s department at the time of the Dáil speech and was told it referred to the failure by the Cloyne hierarchy to implement child protection guidelines until 2008 and to the refusal by the papal nuncio in Ireland, Giuseppe Leanza, to answer questions to the independent Murphy Inquiry in the belief that foreign diplomats were not expected to answer to national commissions or tribunals.
Mr Madden said the Taoiseach was right to stand over his statements and added: "I do not think the Government has to explain itself."
One In Four director Maeve Lewis said their castigation of Mr Kenny "shows their profound misunderstanding of the depths and level of anger and frustration shared by Irish Catholics at the Church failures".
In its response, the Holy See said the Cloyne report had highlighted "very serious and disturbing failings ... by clerics in the Diocese of Cloyne".
However, it then said it had "reservations" over aspects of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s speech in the Dáil on July 20, claiming: "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."
Campaigner Andrew Madden, who wrote the book Altar Boy, said the Vatican’s response to the Government’s demand for explanations over the findings of the Cloyne report was an attempt "to absolve the Vatican".
He said the Vatican’s statement was "a very legalistic, technical, carefully constructed attempt" to absolve itself from the covering up by bishops of child sex abuse by priests.
"They try to localise," he said.
"When it was the Murphy report it was Dublin [who failed], when it was Ferns it was Ferns. What they ignore is that it was also Philadelphia, it was also Boston."
At the centre of the Holy See’s statement is a counter-argument to the Cloyne Report’s finding that the Vatican had diminished child protection guidelines in 1997 as a "study document", but Mr Madden said what the Vatican had said at that time was a "very clear instruction" to its members to follow canon law.
He described the Vatican’s interpretation of the 1997 letter now as "pure spin".
As for the reference by Mr Kenny, he said he had checked with Mr Kenny’s department at the time of the Dáil speech and was told it referred to the failure by the Cloyne hierarchy to implement child protection guidelines until 2008 and to the refusal by the papal nuncio in Ireland, Giuseppe Leanza, to answer questions to the independent Murphy Inquiry in the belief that foreign diplomats were not expected to answer to national commissions or tribunals.
Mr Madden said the Taoiseach was right to stand over his statements and added: "I do not think the Government has to explain itself."
One In Four director Maeve Lewis said their castigation of Mr Kenny "shows their profound misunderstanding of the depths and level of anger and frustration shared by Irish Catholics at the Church failures".