THE Vatican's silence on the findings of the Cloyne Report is nothing new.
Rome's disconnect with the anger of people on the ground in Ireland was seen before in the aftermath of the publication of the Murphy Commission's report on the Catholic archdioceses of Dublin in November 2009.
A
leaked US embassy cable from February 2010 gives a behind-the-scenes
insight into these failings, detailing how Vatican officials made
procedural excuses for not cooperating with the commission.
This lack of
cooperation drove a firm wedge between the government of the day and
the Vatican.
According to the secret document -- obtained by the Irish Independent from the whistleblowing organisation WikiLeaks
-- the Vatican's response to requests for information from the
commission was viewed as being "pettily procedural and failing to
confront the real issue of horrific abuse and cover-up".
While
carrying out its investigation into the Dublin Archdiocese, the
commission sent a letter requesting information from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The commission also asked the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, to answer questions.
But
instead of responding with the information requested, Vatican officials
raised procedural concerns, saying the contact had not been made
through the use of "normal inter-state procedures".
According to
the cable, the Holy See's Assessor Peter Wells told an American official
that many in the Vatican saw the requests "as an affront to Vatican
sovereignty".