POPE Benedict XVI has been asked to help rescue the Catholic Church here from the devastation caused by the Ryan Report on abuse of children in religious institutions.Primate of All Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin met with the Pope in Rome last night to explain the scale of the fallout from the report and seek advice on how to regain public confidence.
Of concern to the country’s two most senior Church leaders in seeking the meeting was the Government’s demand that the religious orders that ran the institutions make a substantial contribution towards the compensation and support of abuse survivors.
Controversy over the orders’ attitude towards survivors has raged since publication of the report last month, with the orders initially dismissing calls to review a deal struck with the Government in 2002 that let them contribute just €128 million to a victims redress scheme that has so far cost the taxpayer more than €1 billion.
They ignored calls by Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin for a change of heart, only bowing to pressure when the Government demanded action, and the two men are believed to have asked Pope Benedict for help in getting the orders to toe the line.
A source close to the religious orders said they had not been consulted specifically about the meeting, although some members did speak with senior bishops about child protection issues at a pre-arranged meeting that, by coincidence, took place a few days after publication of the report.
Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin are also understood to have warned Pope Benedict about the impending report by the separate commission of investigation into clerical child sex abuse in the Dublin Diocese.
That report, which contains details of abuse allegations made by hundreds of victims between 1975 and 2004, is to be made public in the coming months.
Senior Church figures have indicated it will cause further shock.
Pope Benedict made no formal comment on the meeting last night but a Vatican spokesman said afterwards that the pontiff had expressed his solidarity with the victims.
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