Sunday, October 06, 2013

Pope accepts bishop resignation over pedophilia cover-up

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Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church has formally accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop who admitted sheltering a priest accused of child abuse.

William Lee, the Bishop of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore in southern Ireland, was relieved of his functions under the Code of Canon Law, which covers serious offenses, the Vatican said in a statement Tuesday.

In 2010, Bishop Lee admitted that his response to child abuse allegations by an Irish clergy in the mid-1990s had been seriously inadequate, the Vatican said.

The bishop was ordained a priest in 1966.

The Vatican has recently come under the spotlight over accusations that it had sealed sexual abuse of children by priests to protect pedophiles and its own reputation.

Hundreds of cases have mushroomed in Europe and the United States during recent years.

Sexual abuses in the Catholic Church arose in the 1980s and hit a major crisis in 2002 when systematic cover-ups were exposed.

This is while the new pope faces a surmounting range of problems including sex abuse allegations, squabbling within the Vatican and the threat of secularism.