THE GOVERNMENT has demanded that the Vatican explain why it
facilitated priests to disregard child protection rules, as revealed in
the report on the Cloyne diocese.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore told the
papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, that he wanted a response from
the Vatican as to why it had told priests and bishops they could
undermine rules laid down by the Irish bishops.
Mr Gilmore said the Vatican’s intervention in Irish affairs was “absolutely unacceptable” and “inappropriate”.
“I
want to know why this State, with which we have diplomatic relations,
issued a communication, the effect of which was that very serious
matters of the abuse of children in this country were not reported to
the authorities,” he said.
The papal nuncio said he was “very
distressed” by the Cloyne report. Speaking after his meeting with Mr
Gilmore in Iveagh House in Dublin Thuesday, Archbishop Leanza said he
would bring a copy of the report to the attention of the Holy See
immediately.
“I am very distressed myself again by the failures in
assuring the protection of children within the church despite all the
good work that has been done, he said.
“I wish to say, however,
the total commitment of the Holy See for its part [is] to taking all the
necessary measures to assure protection.”
Mr Gilmore said the
Vatican had conveyed a message that somehow it was “alright to evade
responsibility” for reporting these matters to the Irish authorities.
“What
happened here should not have happened. What happened here was a
totally inappropriate, unjustified and unacceptable intervention by the
Vatican in the reporting arrangements, even within the context of the
arrangements of the church itself.”
“They conveyed a message to
priests which may have led them to believe that they could in conscience
not report matters to the authorities.”
The Minister said
Archbishop Leanza had shown remorse and he felt he had taken on board
his concerns.
Questioned if he felt Pope Benedict XVI should respond, Mr
Gilmore said it was up to the Vatican to decide who communicated with
Ireland.
He said he had not set a deadline for a response but that
he would judge what represented an appropriate period of time to
respond to the formal request from the Government.
Asked if he
believed the Vatican’s embassy in Ireland should be closed following its
poor interaction with the commissions investigating child abuse here,
Mr Gilmore said that was an entirely different matter.
“We want a
response first,” he said.
The report accused the Vatican, through
its opposition to the Irish bishops’ procedures for handling child
sexual abuse, of giving comfort to dissenters within the church who did
not want to implement them.
In a secret letter to the bishops, Rome
describes the 1996 rules as “merely a study document” and not official
policy.
Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan said the archbishop should
be expelled from the State.
“The position of the papal nuncio is
untenable,” he said, reacting to yesterday’s meeting between the
archbishop and Mr Gilmore.
Mr Flanagan, who is chairman of the
Fine Gael parliamentary party, said there were no circumstances in which
canon law could take precedence over civil or criminal law.
“As an ambassador of the Vatican state, he should leave the jurisdiction,” he added.