VARIOUS/FILE: Pope names inspectors in Irish Church abuse probe

Record ID: 334800

  • Title: VARIOUS/FILE: Pope names inspectors in Irish Church abuse probe
  • Date: 1st June 2010
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FILE - FEBRUARY 14, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF IRISH BISHOPS ATTENDING MASS AHEAD OF THEIR MEETING WITH THE POPE ON CHILD ABUSE
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA4Y6BVAM9N5W208VBRA9D4GXOF
  • Story Text: The Vatican on Monday (May 31) announced a heavyweight line-up of prominent Churchmen to lead its official inquiry into sexual abuse of children by clergy in predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland.
    The wide-ranging inquiry, which will begin in the autumn, will be headed by two cardinals and three archbishops from England, the United States and Canada.
    "The Pope has named today 9 visitors for an apostolic visitation to the church in Ireland. He had announced this visitation in his letter in March and the visit will be to the four archdioceses in Ireland and to the seminars and to the religious institutions" said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
    Benedict announced the inquiry, formally known as an "apostolic visitation," last March in a letter to the Irish people about the sexual abuse scandal in their country, which has led to the resignation of three Irish bishops.
    A Vatican statement said the inquiry will begin in four dioceses -- Armagh, Dublin, Cashel-Emly, and Tuam -- and then be extended to other dioceses.
    It said the Vatican wanted "to respond adequately to the situation caused by the tragic cases of abuse perpetrated by priests and religious upon minors" and help lead to "spiritual and moral renewal" in the Irish Church.
    "This is a help because those responsible will remain in charge, the bishops of the dioceses, the responsible of the seminars and so on. But these visitors will then refer and report after the visit. Then the Pope and the congregation ' Lombardi said.
    The heavyweight status of the leaders of the inquiry -- consisting of visits to churches, seminaries and convents and the questioning of hundreds of people -- underscored the importance the pope attaches to the probe and its results.
    Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Conner, emeritus archbishop of Westminster, will lead the probe of Armagh and Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston will lead the inquiry into Dublin.
    Toronto Archbishop Christopher Collins will look into Cashel-Emly and Ottawa Archbishop Thomas Prendergast was assigned Tuam.
    Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, one of the most prominent Church figures, will lead an investigation into Irish seminaries, including the Pontifical Irish College in Rome.
    O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston who will lead the investigation in Dublin, the most sensitive diocese, now heads an archdiocese which was morally devastated by its own sexual abuse crisis in 2002.
    He is the successor to Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace in 2002 over accusations he mishandled cases of sexual abuse by allowing priests to be moved from parish to parish.
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