A small group of some ten Catholics held a protest outside the office of the Papal Nuncio on the Navan Road in Dublin todayThey handed an open letter to Pope Benedict into the Apostolic Nunciature calling for an enquiry into the failure of bishops in Ireland and abroad to protect children from clerical abuse.
The protesters were part of Voice of the Faithful Ireland (VOTFI), a group of Catholics that want to see change in the church and which supports victims of child abuse in Ireland.
They also called on papal nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza to apologise for the failure of his predecessor to cooperate with the Murphy commission. They also called on him to co-operate fully with the commission from now on.
“This would maybe repair some of the damage” said VOFI acting co-ordinator Sean O’Conaill.
Such an apology would show that the nuncio and the pope care about how the bishops they appointed had failed the Catholic children of Ireland, said abuse survivor Brian Maguire.
“We are here because as well as being a diplomat he is representative of pope for Irish church and we are part of the Irish church. We want to give a message, as part of the church, to the pope. We are asking for the pope to study why this happened” he said.
Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza has been requested to attend a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at Iveagh House in Dublin next week.
Mr Martin said he would be meeting the nuncio “to discuss issues surrounding the report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation”. This would include “the commission’s findings as well as the issue of the co-operation of the nuncio and the Holy See with the commission”, he said.
According to the Voice of the Faithful Ireland website, its members do not seek to change essential Church teachings.
However, in line with Vatican II, the organisation seeks to establish the right of lay people to express their opinions freely "on those things which pertain to the good of the Church".
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