The Vatican's senior sex crimes prosecutor has today defended Cardinal Sean Brady's handling of allegations of clerical sex abuse.Monsignor Charles Scicluna said the current primate had no case to answer over renewed allegations of mishandling information given to him in 1975 about serial sex abuser Fr Brendan Smyth.
The allegations were made in a BBC This World documentary, The Shame of the Catholic Church, broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland last night.
Speaking on RTÉ Morning Ireland earlier today, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter described the cases detailed in last night's programme were "tragic and disturbing incidents."
He said the programme highlighted the need for reforms such as those currently being introduced by the Government such as the Withholding of Information Bill, which was published last week.
In last night's programme, Brendan Boland, who was abused by Smyth as a 12-year-old, claimed that information he gave on to a Catholic Church inquiry team, which included Cardinal Brady, was not passed on to parents of some of the victims of the paedophile priest.
Mr Boland from Co Louth recounted how two of these victims, a boy from Belfast and a boy from Cavan, continued to be abused by the priest after the inquiry group, which comprised three priests, completed its work.
The programme expands on information disclosed in 2010 about how the information compiled by the canonical inquiry in 1975, to which Mr Boland gave evidence, was not passed on to gardaí. That disclosure led to calls for Cardinal Brady to resign.
Last night’s programme contains new information that parents of the victims who were identified by Mr Boland to the 1975 inquiry were not informed about this abuse.
Msgr Scicluna said Cardinal Brady had followed the right procedures in his role as a notary by passing on the information to the late Bishop of Kilmore Francis McKiernan.
“His duty, and I think that what I would expect of a notary or an interviewer’s duty, is to pass the information to the people who are in authority,” said Msgr Scicluna. “The people who are in authority would have the duty not only to put the people away from danger and so, if they are minors, to inform their parents, but also to make sure that the priest who is offending doesn’t offend and that he is put under supervision.
“He (Brady) was doing his duty to investigate something that had come to the knowledge eof the church and I think he fulfilled his duty well,” he said.
A spokesman for Cardinal Brady, speaking yesterday evening before the programme was broadcast, also defended the primate.
"Even according to today’s State and church guidelines, Fr Brady would not be the person with responsibility for making a report to the civil authorities," the spokesman said. “That responsibility at the time rested with the only people who had the authority to stop Brendan Smyth, namely the Abbot of his Monastery in Kilnacrott , to whom Bishop McKiernan reported the evidence collected by Fr Brady.”
He added: “It is also important to note that those who were in charge of the church inquiry in 1975 and the then Fr Seán Brady, who was asked to assist in it as a ‘notary’ or note taker, was working without the benefit of any guidelines on responding to abuse of children from either the State or the church.
“It would be unreasonable and grossly unfair to judge the actions of those at that time by the standards of the clear guidance from the State and the church that only came into existence some 20 years later."
However, the revelations in the documentary are likely to put further pressure on Cardinal Brady and the church authorities, particularly over the disclosure that parents of the children were not informed of the abuse.
A Belfast man, who as a boy was abused by Smyth, appeared on camera but with his face shielded.
Mr Boland said he told the inquiry about the abuse of this boy when he spoke to the inquiry in 1975. However, the programme stated that the parents of the Belfast boy were not informed of the abuse and he was sexually abused for a further year after the inquiry by Smyth.
In addition, Smyth abused the sister of the Belfast boy for seven years up until 1982. He also abused four of the boy’s first cousins for a period up until 1988.
Reporter Darragh McIntyre said he spoke to all the children identified by Mr Boland to the inquiry, and discovered that four of them were abused by Smyth and two continued to be abused after the inquiry.
Smyth was jailed, first in 1994 in Northern Ireland and then in the Republic for his crimes of the sexual abuse of children for over 40 years. He died in prison in 1997.
The allegations were made in a BBC This World documentary, The Shame of the Catholic Church, broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland last night.
Speaking on RTÉ Morning Ireland earlier today, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter described the cases detailed in last night's programme were "tragic and disturbing incidents."
He said the programme highlighted the need for reforms such as those currently being introduced by the Government such as the Withholding of Information Bill, which was published last week.
In last night's programme, Brendan Boland, who was abused by Smyth as a 12-year-old, claimed that information he gave on to a Catholic Church inquiry team, which included Cardinal Brady, was not passed on to parents of some of the victims of the paedophile priest.
Mr Boland from Co Louth recounted how two of these victims, a boy from Belfast and a boy from Cavan, continued to be abused by the priest after the inquiry group, which comprised three priests, completed its work.
The programme expands on information disclosed in 2010 about how the information compiled by the canonical inquiry in 1975, to which Mr Boland gave evidence, was not passed on to gardaí. That disclosure led to calls for Cardinal Brady to resign.
Last night’s programme contains new information that parents of the victims who were identified by Mr Boland to the 1975 inquiry were not informed about this abuse.
Msgr Scicluna said Cardinal Brady had followed the right procedures in his role as a notary by passing on the information to the late Bishop of Kilmore Francis McKiernan.
“His duty, and I think that what I would expect of a notary or an interviewer’s duty, is to pass the information to the people who are in authority,” said Msgr Scicluna. “The people who are in authority would have the duty not only to put the people away from danger and so, if they are minors, to inform their parents, but also to make sure that the priest who is offending doesn’t offend and that he is put under supervision.
“He (Brady) was doing his duty to investigate something that had come to the knowledge eof the church and I think he fulfilled his duty well,” he said.
A spokesman for Cardinal Brady, speaking yesterday evening before the programme was broadcast, also defended the primate.
"Even according to today’s State and church guidelines, Fr Brady would not be the person with responsibility for making a report to the civil authorities," the spokesman said. “That responsibility at the time rested with the only people who had the authority to stop Brendan Smyth, namely the Abbot of his Monastery in Kilnacrott , to whom Bishop McKiernan reported the evidence collected by Fr Brady.”
He added: “It is also important to note that those who were in charge of the church inquiry in 1975 and the then Fr Seán Brady, who was asked to assist in it as a ‘notary’ or note taker, was working without the benefit of any guidelines on responding to abuse of children from either the State or the church.
“It would be unreasonable and grossly unfair to judge the actions of those at that time by the standards of the clear guidance from the State and the church that only came into existence some 20 years later."
However, the revelations in the documentary are likely to put further pressure on Cardinal Brady and the church authorities, particularly over the disclosure that parents of the children were not informed of the abuse.
A Belfast man, who as a boy was abused by Smyth, appeared on camera but with his face shielded.
Mr Boland said he told the inquiry about the abuse of this boy when he spoke to the inquiry in 1975. However, the programme stated that the parents of the Belfast boy were not informed of the abuse and he was sexually abused for a further year after the inquiry by Smyth.
In addition, Smyth abused the sister of the Belfast boy for seven years up until 1982. He also abused four of the boy’s first cousins for a period up until 1988.
Reporter Darragh McIntyre said he spoke to all the children identified by Mr Boland to the inquiry, and discovered that four of them were abused by Smyth and two continued to be abused after the inquiry.
Smyth was jailed, first in 1994 in Northern Ireland and then in the Republic for his crimes of the sexual abuse of children for over 40 years. He died in prison in 1997.