Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Archbishop denies he asked for resignations

Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has denied he had asked for the resignations of two of his auxiliary bishops.

The Vatican rejected the offers of resignation from auxiliaries Eamonn Walsh and Ray Field in the wake of the Murphy report on child sex abuse.

“I asked for accountability, and I believe that is something . . . I haven’t always been successful in doing that,’’ said Dr Martin.

He was responding last night to Pat Kenny, who suggested on the RTÉ Frontline programme that the archbishop’s authority had been undermined by the pope.

Dr Martin said accountability was when people said “this is the level of my responsibility . . . I stand over that and I am not just going to say sit back and say nothing’’. 

Asked if the pope had second-guessed him, Dr Martin replied: “No. I know what the pope thinks.’’

SIC: IT/IE