The Guardian,
July 20, 2011
Irish
Prime Minister Attacks Vatican
By Henry McDonald
Ireland's
prime minister has launched an unprecedented attack on the Vatican,
accusing it of downplaying the rape and torture of Irish children
by clerical sex abusers.
Enda Kenny
said in parliament that the Cloyne report, released on 13 July,
had exposed the Vatican's attempt to frustrate the inquiry into
child sex abuse.
During a debate
on the fallout from the Cloyne findings, the taoiseach said the
report had illuminated the dysfunction and elitism still dominant
in the Vatican.
Kenny told
the Dáil on Wednesday that Rome seemed more interested
in upholding the church's power and reputation than confronting
the abuse of Irish children by its priests and religious orders.
The Vatican's
attitude to investigations in Cloyne, which covers County Cork,
was the "polar opposite of the radicalism, the humility and
the compassion that the church had been founded on", he said.
Kenny said
the rape and torture of children had been downplayed or "managed"
to uphold the institution's power and reputation.
The all-party
motion being debated in the Dáil "deplores the Vatican's
intervention which contributed to the undermining of child protection
frameworks and guidelines of the Irish state and the Irish bishops".
One of the
most damning findings of the Cloyne report was that the diocese
failed to report nine out of 15 complaints made against priests,
which "very clearly should have been reported".
The report,
coming after a string of inquiries into Catholic clerical sex
abuse across Ireland, has set the Irish government on a collision
course with the church.
Earlier on
Wednesday a Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, speaking
in a personal capacity, said nothing in the advice given by the
papal nuncio to Ireland in 1997 encouraged bishops to break Irish
laws.
The Vatican's
advice to Irish bishops on child protection policies could not
be interpreted as an invitation to cover up abuse cases, he said.
Ireland's
justice minister, Alan Shatter, described the Vatican spokesman's
argument as disingenuous.
Some Irish
parliamentarians have called on the Fine Gael-Labour coalition
to expel the papal nuncio from Ireland in protest over the Vatican's
attitude to the allegations in the Cloyne diocese.
Enda Kenny
speech in the Irish Parliment on the Commission of Investigation
into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne.
The revelations
of the Cloyne report have brought the Government, Irish Catholics
and the Vatican to an unprecedented juncture.
It's fair
to say that after the Ryan and Murphy Reports Ireland is, perhaps,
unshockable when it comes to the abuse of children.
But Cloyne
has proved to be of a different order.
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.
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'.
Far from listening
to evidence of humiliation and betrayal with St Benedict's 'ear
of the heart'......the Vatican's reaction was to parse and analyse
it with the gimlet eye of a canon lawyer.
This calculated,
withering position being the polar opposite of the radicalism,
humility and compassion upon which the Roman Church was founded.
The radicalism,
humility and compassion which are the very essence of its foundation
and purpose.
The behaviour
being a case of Roma locuta est: causa finita est.
Except in
this instance, nothing could be further from the truth.
Victims
Cloyne's revelations
are heart-breaking. It describes how many victims continued to
live in the small towns and parishes in which they were reared
and in which they were abused. their abuser often still in the
area and still held in high regard by their families and the community.
The abusers
continued to officiate at family weddings and funerals. In one
case, the abuser even officiated at the victim's own wedding.
There is little
I or anyone else in this House can say to comfort that victim
or others, however much we want to. But we can and do recognise
the bravery of all of the victims who told their stories to the
Commission.
While it will
take a long time for Cloyne to recover from the horrors uncovered,
it could take the victims and their families a lifetime to pick
up the pieces of their shattered existence.
Papal Nuncio
A day post-publication,
the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
met with the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza.
The Tánaiste
left the Archbishop clear on two things: The gravity of the actions
and attitude of the Holy See.
And Ireland's
complete rejection and abhorrence of same.
The Papal
Nuncio undertook to present the Cloyne Report to the Vatican.
The Government awaits the considered response of the Holy See.
I believe
that the Irish people, including the very many faithful Catholics
who - like me - have been shocked and dismayed by the repeated
failings of Church authorities to face up to what is required,
deserve and require confirmation from the Vatican that they do
accept, endorse and require compliance by all Church authorities
here with, the obligations to report all cases of suspected abuse,
whether current or historical, to the State's authorities in line
with the Children First National Guidance which will have the
force of law.
Clericalism
Clericalism
has rendered some of Ireland's brightest, most privileged and
powerful men, either unwilling or unable to address the horrors
cited in the Ryan and Murphy Reports.
This Roman
Clericalism must be devastating for good priests.... some of them
old... others struggling to keep their humanity....even their
sanity........as they work so hard.....to be the keepers of the
Church's light and goodness within their parishes...... communities...
the human heart.
Church
& State
But thankfully
for them, and for us, this is not Rome.
Nor is it
industrial-school or Magdalene Ireland, where the swish of a soutane
smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible
ruled the Irish-Catholic world.
This is the 'Republic' of Ireland 2011.
A Republic
of laws.....of rights and responsibilities....of proper civic
order..... where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular
version..... of a particular kind of 'morality'..... will no longer
be tolerated or ignored.
As a practising
Catholic, I don't say any of this easily. Growing up, many of
us in here learned we were part of a pilgrim Church.
Today, that
Church needs to be a penitent Church. A church, truly and deeply
penitent for the horrors it perpetrated, hid and denied.
In the name
of God. But for the good of the institution.
When I say
that through our legislation, through our Government's action
to put Children First., those who have been abused can take some
small comfort in knowing that they belong to a nation, to a democracy
where humanity, power, rights, responsibility are enshrined and
enacted, always....always.... for their good.
Where the
law - their law - as citizens of this country, will always supercede
canon laws that have neither legitimacy nor place in the affairs
of this country.
State/Society
This report
tells us a tale of a frankly brazen disregard for protecting children.
If we do not respond swiftly and appropriately as a State, we
will have to prepare ourselves for more reports like this.
I agree with
Archbishop Martin that the Church needs to publish any other and
all other reports like this as soon as possible.
I must note
the Commission is very positive about the work of the National
Board for Safeguarding Children, established by the Church to
oversee the operation by Dioceses and religious orders. The Commission
notes that all Church authorities were required to sign a contract
with the National Board agreeing to implement the relevant standards
and that those refusing to sign would be named in the Board's
Annual Report. Progress has been in no small measure to the commitment
of Ian Elliott and others.
There is some
small comfort to be drawn by the people of Cloyne from the fact
that the Commission is complimentary of the efforts made by the
Diocese since 2008, in training, in vetting personnel and in the
risk management of Priests against whom allegations have been
made.
Nevertheless,
the behaviour of Bishop Magee and Monsignor O'Callaghan show how
fragile even good standards and policies are to the weakness and
wilful disregard of those who fail to give the right priority
to safeguarding our children.
But if the
Vatican needs to get its house in order, so does this State.
The Report
of the Commission is rightly critical of the entirely unsatisfactory
position which the last Government allowed to persist over many
years.
The unseemly
bickering between the Minister for Children and the HSE over the
statutory powers to deal with extra-familial abuse, the failure
to produce legislation to enable the exchange of soft information
as promised after the Ferns Enquiry, and the long period of confusion
and disjointed responsibility for child protection within the
HSE, as reported by the Commission, are simply not acceptable
in a society which values children and their safety.
For too long
Ireland has neglected its children.
Just last
week we saw a case of the torture of children, within the family,
come before the courts. Just two days ago, we were repulsed by
the case of a Donegal registered sex offender.and school caretaker.
Children and
young adults reduced to human wreckage, raising questions and
issues of serious import for State agencies.
We are set
to embark on a course of action to ensure the State is doing all
it can to safeguard our children.
Minister Shatter
is bringing forward two pieces of legislation - firstly, to make
it an offence to withhold information relating to crimes against
children and vulnerable adults; and secondly, at long last, to
allow for the exchange of 'soft information' on abusers.
As Taoiseach,
I want to do all I can to protect the sacred space of childhood
and to restore its innocence.
Especially
our young teenagers, whom I believe to be children. Because regardless
of our current economic crisis, the children of this country are,
and always will be, our most precious possession of all.
Safeguarding
their integrity and innocence must be a national priority. This
is why I undertook to create a Cabinet ministry for Children and
Youth Affairs.
The legislation
'Children First' proposes to give our children maximum protection
and security without intruding on the hectic, magical business
of being a child.
Conclusion
Cardinal Josef
Ratzinger said: 'Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society
or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied
to the Church.'
As the Holy
See prepares its considered response to the Cloyne Report, as
Taoiseach, I am making it absolutely clear, that when it comes
to the protection of the children of this State, the standards
of conduct which the Church deems appropriate to itself, cannot
and will not, be applied to the workings of democracy and civil
society in this republic.
Not purely,
or simply or otherwise.
CHILDREN....
FIRST.
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