Nuncio in Ireland condemns clerical abuse, pledges strong Vatican response

December 09, 2009

Meeting with Irish foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, who has served as Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland since 2008, condemned clerical abuse and said that the Vatican would issue a “strong response” to the findings of the Murphy commission report, which investigated abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

“I express my shock and dismay and certainly I understand the anger of the people and the suffering of those who have been abused, so we certainly condemn this,” Archbishop Leanza said. The nuncio-- who came under fire from the nation’s justice minister for not responding to an inqury from the commission-- regretted not acknowledging the commission’s letter but said that he believed the letter’s purpose was merely to inform him about the forthcoming report.

“If there was any mistake from our side, we always apologize for this,” he said. “I think [it] is clear that mistakes were there. So no one would like to cover up. It is much better that what has been wrong emerges.”

Martin, the Irish foreign minister, disclosed that during his meeting with the nuncio he had conveyed his government's insistence that the Vatican cooperate with the sex-abuse investigation.

As Ireland's leading prelates-- Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin-- prepared for a Friday meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican officials, rumors circulated in Dublin that several Irish bishops might be asked to resign because of their mishandling of sex-abuse complaints.

 

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Further information:

• Vatican to issue 'strong response' (Irish Times)
• Full text of Murphy commission report (Commission of Investigation, Dublin Archdiocese)
• Top Irish prelates called to Vatican for talks on sex-abuse scandal (CWN, 12/7/09)
• Ireland’s justice minister blasts papal nuncio for not cooperating with abuse inquiry (CWN, 12/1/09)
• Vatican 'dismayed' at Murphy Report findings (RTE)
• Vatican bluntly told to aid child abuse probes (Belfast Telegraph)