The God Squad

The Irish Times – 15th July 2011

PAUL CULLEN

THE GOVERNMENT has demanded that the Vatican explain why it facilitated priests to disregard child protection rules, as revealed in the report on the Cloyne diocese.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore told the papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, that he wanted a response from the Vatican as to why it had told priests and bishops they could undermine rules laid down by the Irish bishops.

Mr Gilmore said the Vatican’s intervention in Irish affairs was “absolutely unacceptable” and “inappropriate”.

“I want to know why this State, with which we have diplomatic relations, issued a communication, the effect of which was that very serious matters of the abuse of children in this country were not reported to the authorities,” he said.

The papal nuncio said he was “very distressed” by the Cloyne report. Speaking after his meeting with Mr Gilmore in Iveagh House in Dublin yesterday, Archbishop Leanza said he would bring a copy of the report to the attention of the Holy See immediately.

“I am very distressed myself again by the failures in assuring the protection of children within the church despite all the good work that has been done, he said.

“I wish to say, however, the total commitment of the Holy See for its part [is] to taking all the necessary measures to assure protection.”

Mr Gilmore said the Vatican had conveyed a message that somehow it was “alright to evade responsibility” for reporting these matters to the Irish authorities.

“What happened here should not have happened. What happened here was a totally inappropriate, unjustified and unacceptable intervention by the Vatican in the reporting arrangements, even within the context of the arrangements of the church itself.”

“They conveyed a message to priests which may have led them to believe that they could in conscience not report matters to the authorities.”

The Minister said Archbishop Leanza had shown remorse and he felt he had taken on board his concerns. Questioned if he felt Pope Benedict XVI should respond, Mr Gilmore said it was up to the Vatican to decide who communicated with Ireland.

He said he had not set a deadline for a response but that he would judge what represented an appropriate period of time to respond to the formal request from the Government.

Asked if he believed the Vatican’s embassy in Ireland should be closed following its poor interaction with the commissions investigating child abuse here, Mr Gilmore said that was an entirely different matter. “We want a response first,” he said.

The report accused the Vatican, through its opposition to the Irish bishops’ procedures for handling child sexual abuse, of giving comfort to dissenters within the church who did not want to implement them. In a secret letter to the bishops, Rome describes the 1996 rules as “merely a study document” and not official policy.

Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan said the archbishop should be expelled from the State. “The position of the papal nuncio is untenable,” he said, reacting to yesterday’s meeting between the archbishop and Mr Gilmore.

Mr Flanagan, who is chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, said there were no circumstances in which canon law could take precedence over civil or criminal law.

“As an ambassador of the Vatican state, he should leave the jurisdiction,” he added.