The group 'One in Four' has said it is very disappointed by the Vatican's response but 'not terribly surprised'.
Executive Director Maeve Lewis said the statement once again shows
the Vatican's refusal to accept any level of responsibility for the
"culture that pertained in the Catholic Church in Ireland and indeed
throughout the world, where the safety of children took much less
priority than the status and reputation of the church".
She said Vatican's attempts to show in detail that their words were
misconstrued and misinterpreted was not very helpful and that the
statement fails to explain why the Vatican refused to participate or
make documentation available to the Cloyne inquiry.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio, Ms Lewis said: "I think, in their castigation,
really, of the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, I think it shows their profound
misunderstanding of the depths and level of anger and frustration shared
by Irish Catholics at the church failures"
Ms Lewis said she hopes when the Government has the chance to review
the document that their response will not stray very far from the
remarks made in the Dáil Mr Kenny.
Abuse victim Andrew Madden said the Vatican response showed that
"every effort" was made "to continue to find ways for the Holy See to
absolve itself of any responsibility" for the issue of sexual abuse by
priests.