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Irish PM accuses Vatican of 'disconnection' on child abuse
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny launched a blistering attack on the Vatican, accusing it of "dysfunction, disconnection and elitism" in its failure to tackle clerical child sex abuse.
His hard-hitting comments came in a parliamentary debate Wednesday on a report last week which accused the Roman Catholic Church of failings in its handling of abuse allegations against 19 clerics in the diocese of Cloyne, southern Ireland.
Kenny said that as a practising Catholic, he did not find it easy to be so critical of the Church authorities, but said the revelations in the Cloyne report were of a "different order" to previous reports detailing abuse.
"Because for the first time in Ireland, a report into child sexual abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago," he told the Dail, the lower house of parliament.
"And in doing so, the Cloyne report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism, that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.
"The rape and torture of children were downplayed or 'managed' to uphold instead the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and 'reputation'."
Lawmakers were debating a motion which criticised "the Vatican's intervention which contributed to the undermining of the child protection".
So many people wanted to speak that the session was extended, and the motion was finally passed without a vote being taken.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi declined to comment on Kenny's remarks.
The Cloyne report was one of a series of that have rocked predominately Catholic Ireland, detailing horrific sex abuse of children and attempts by Church leaders to cover them up.
The two-year probe into the handling of complaints made in the largely rural diocese of Cloyne between 1996 and 2009 found the authorities' response to have been "inadequate and inappropriate", and said this had compounded the victims' pain.
The report was strongly critical of the failures of the former bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, who had been private secretary to three successive popes -- Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II.
It said Magee, who resigned last year, had "to a certain extent detached himself from the day to day management of child abuse cases".
Kenny said that far from listening to the evidence with compassion and humility, the Vatican's reaction was "calculated" and "withering".
He blasted the influence of the Church, saying that "clericalism has rendered some of Ireland's brightest, most privileged and powerful men, either unwilling or unable to address the horrors cited" in landmark recent abuse reports.
And he said "this Roman clericalism must be devastating for good priests ... as they work so hard, to be the keepers of the Church's light and goodness within their parishes, communities, the human heart".
"But thankfully for them, and for us, this is not Rome," Kenny said.
Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore raised the report's concerns with papal ambassador Giuseppe Leanza last week, and Kenny said his government would wait to hear the Vatican's reaction.
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Of course, the child abuse scandal (worldwide) is only the most flagrant of the Vatican's "sins of omission".
How many people know about their complete refusal to make their priests conform to the vow of celibacy concerning sex with adults, or at least to get rid of this hypocrisy?
One of my friends fell in love with the priest who taught her the catechism. Doubtful of what to do, she asked her spiritual adviser (a priest, natch!) who told her to plan a weekend away in the country with her priest friend. "Get one room, one bed, and make love to him all weekend long" was the "advice" of her "spiritual adviser". She did, and her priest, the head of two major Churches in Paris - at 63 years of age - became her lover. They spent two nights a week in each others' arms.
This would simply be anecdotal except that the practice was far from isolated. In Ireland it was typical to have a parish house which included a "housekeeper", but it was well-known that the "house" was not all she was keeping. Another friend, gay this time, had a lover for over two years who was an Italian priest. And so it goes.
The other priests around them are quite aware of the situation, but no-one ever tries to put a stop to it. Yet "celibacy" before marriage is still being taught to the faithful.
Meanwhile, in Africa, the Church has been telling people that condoms are porous (a LIE) , so that they will not use them against infection by AIDS. The Africans are supposed to remain chaste, whereas their own priests can do whatever they wish with impunity. Meanwhile, how many African children are being orphaned because the Church is more concerned with preserving their IMAGE and DOGMA than in protecting people from the ravages of AIDS?
Everything in the above paragraphs is teh absolute truth, but everyone (including the Press) prefers to look the other way, rather than upset people by letting them know what Mother Church is really like; where are the journalists to be writing such things up as front page stories? Why does a Prime Minister have to say something before anyone dares to pay notice?
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Il-Gustizzja trid issir ma KULLHADD u nhux biss tidher li qeda issir.
Nipretendi li kemm l-Istat kif ukoll Il-Knisja f'Malta jahdmu fliemkien biex dan issir.
Hawn hafna u hafna qassisin/patrijiet tajbin imma dawk il ftit li mumhiex ma ghandhomx jithallew jibqu qassisin/patrijiet. Dawn hsara lil Knisja ikun qedin jaghmlu.
Kullhadd ghandu jimxi fuq passi ta' Sidna Gesu Kristu specjalment il-Ministri tieghu
Donella Agius •
When will the Church in Malta issue the judgement on the priests of the Missionary Society of St Paul priests who are accused of sexually abusing of children in their care? Several months ago it was said that from the Vatican every action was taken and now one only has to wait for the final judgement from the Church in Malta as they have already proof of these accusations. Why is this long delay? Can one take the maltese church and especially the archbishop seriously that he is doing everything to bring to justice those who abuse children? Or is the Church waiting till all the accused are dead and so the case will automatically become irrelevant.?
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Gonzi, ex tal-Museum chief, grandnephew of Mons. Mikiel Gonzi, criticising the local Catholic church?????? Haha that would be the day.
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Irish PM Kenny is right. Hard-working good priests must be devastated. But how many of them have publicly condemned the church for the terrible way it dealt with the problem, the cover up, the utter and inexcusable failure to protect the vulnerable from known sexual predators, the putting of the Church’s reputation above everything else?
‘Good’ priests choose to close their eyes to the cases of priest child sexual abuse even when they know the perpetrators. They also fail to condemn the practice. They do not speak publicly about these people who are preying on vulnerable and defenceless children. They are not talking about priest child molesters who are regarded as pillars of society. They do not speak about priests who rape children. They do not speak about bishops who shield the perpetrators and so put more children at risk. ‘Good’ priests protect persons who are doing unspeakable things to children. Why do they keep silent? Why don’t priests of integrity ever speak up?
How many ‘good’ Maltese priests have exposed this scandal? Truth is ‘good’ priests simply ignore the abuse and choose not to speak out even though the scandal is putting all priests in a bad light. Here Edmund Burke’s famous saying easily comes to mind: ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’.
And one final question: When will Dr Gonzi follow the example of his Irish counterpart?
