Commenting on the Vatican’s summary of the findings of the Apostolic Visitation in Ireland, Sinn Féin spokesperson on children Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD said:
“This Vatican report is silent on the Vatican’s own role in covering up the nature and extent of abuse over many years and, in the words of the Cloyne Report, giving ‘individual Irish bishops the freedom to ignore the procedures which they had agreed and gave comfort and support to those who... dissented from the stated official Irish Church policy’.
“The report acknowledges the profound damage done by those clerics of the Catholic Church who abused children in Ireland and it reaffirms and seeks strict application of child protection guidelines. To that extent it is welcome. However, by remaining silent on the Vatican’s own role as highlighted as recently as July last year in the Cloyne Report, this Vatican summary fails to acknowledge the full responsibility of Church institutions. This omission, in a summary mainly concerned with training of clerics and church renewal, does nothing to instil confidence.”