One in Four director Maeve Lewis has said a letter which revealed Rome
had reservations about reporting child sex abuse to the Gardaí showed
bishops were "left hanging" between having to abide by Irish law,
Catholic Church law and guidelines they had agreed themselves.
The head of the abuse-survivors support group said: “In practice it would appear that the Vatican was at all costs avoiding the laicisation of priests and leaving bishops with little authority.
“It certainly created a dilemma for bishops as to whether they should follow the canon law of Rome or the civil law.”
Ms Lewis said an RTE documentary and comments by Bishop Michael Smith showed senior clergy understood the letter to be a directive and instruction that mandatory reporting was contrary to canon law.
“There’s no doubt about that,” she said.
The head of the abuse-survivors support group said: “In practice it would appear that the Vatican was at all costs avoiding the laicisation of priests and leaving bishops with little authority.
“It certainly created a dilemma for bishops as to whether they should follow the canon law of Rome or the civil law.”
Ms Lewis said an RTE documentary and comments by Bishop Michael Smith showed senior clergy understood the letter to be a directive and instruction that mandatory reporting was contrary to canon law.
“There’s no doubt about that,” she said.
SIC: BN/IE