THE Vatican wanted paedophile priest Tony Walsh to serve 10 years in a monastery rather than force him out of the Church.
The Irish Church hierarchy wanted to dismiss Tony Walsh, but Rome urged that he be allowed to remain in the clergy.
Pope John Paul II dismissed Walsh in 1996 after a direct appeal for action by Cardinal Desmond Connell. Dublin-based clergy investigated Walsh in the early 1990s and asked Rome to laicise him in 1993.
Pope John Paul II dismissed Walsh in 1996 after a direct appeal for action by Cardinal Desmond Connell. Dublin-based clergy investigated Walsh in the early 1990s and asked Rome to laicise him in 1993.
Walsh
appealed in October 1993 and the Vatican called for the penalty to be
reduced in June 1994. The Pope was asked to intervene after the attack
on the boy in a pub.
The Commission of Investigation into the Dublin Archdiocese, the Murphy report, stated: "This option of dismissing a priest directly by the Pope is reserved for grave and clear cases and is regarded as an extraordinary remedy, even when the normal penal process is inadequate."
The commission hit out at Rome’s handling of the case, listed in the report under the randomly selected but seemingly inappropriate pseudonym, Fr Jovito.
"The handling of that appeal in Rome was unsatisfactory," it said. "The fact that the original decision of dismissal was replaced with a sentence that would have confined Fr Jovito (Walsh) to a monastery for 10 years suggests that, after the 10-year period, Fr Jovito might have been entitled to resume his clerical ministry.
"The whole process was unduly cumbersome and at one stage it was suggested to the Archbishop that he should start all over again and initiate a new canonical process."
The report went on to say that a major factor in Rome’s decision to push for monastery service appears to have been an inability to charge him by reason of paedophilia.
The Commission of Investigation into the Dublin Archdiocese, the Murphy report, stated: "This option of dismissing a priest directly by the Pope is reserved for grave and clear cases and is regarded as an extraordinary remedy, even when the normal penal process is inadequate."
The commission hit out at Rome’s handling of the case, listed in the report under the randomly selected but seemingly inappropriate pseudonym, Fr Jovito.
"The handling of that appeal in Rome was unsatisfactory," it said. "The fact that the original decision of dismissal was replaced with a sentence that would have confined Fr Jovito (Walsh) to a monastery for 10 years suggests that, after the 10-year period, Fr Jovito might have been entitled to resume his clerical ministry.
"The whole process was unduly cumbersome and at one stage it was suggested to the Archbishop that he should start all over again and initiate a new canonical process."
The report went on to say that a major factor in Rome’s decision to push for monastery service appears to have been an inability to charge him by reason of paedophilia.
SIC: IXE/IE