MEMBERS
of the Vatican’s Apostolic Visitation investigation into clerical abuse
will be available to meet with abuse victims and their families.
The Vatican confirmed yesterday that such contact would form part of the terms of reference agreed for the investigation.
Pope Benedict announced the Apostolic Visitation last March. This
followed his meeting in February with the Irish Bishops to discuss the
fall-out of the Murphy report, which is a year-old later this month.
That independent report was commissioned by the government to
investigate the way in which the church dealt with allegations of sexual
abuse of children by priests over the period 1975 to 2004.
It
concluded that the Dublin Archdiocese’s pre-occupations in dealing with
cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the
maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the
reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets.
The report added that all other considerations, including the welfare of
children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these
priorities.
The Vatican has stated that the Apostolic
Visitation team will be available to meet with victims of abuse and
their families and anyone who wishes to speak with them.
The
Vatican said the aim of the visitation is to establish that the present
processes in place to deal with abuse are effective.
The statement added this will in no way interfere with the authority of bishops or civil authorities.
The Apostolic Visitation will not handle new cases of abuse or old, but will relay them onto the civil authorities.
They also added that they will not investigate individual cases of abuse nor are they there to try past events.
"The visitors will have to identify the explicit problems which may
require some assistance from the Holy See," the statement added.
SIC: IE/IE