A "CABAL" in the Catholic Church hierarchy has refused to recognise decades-old procedures for reporting abuse cases, undermining transparency and putting children in grave danger of attacks.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, made the comments against his own institution in response to Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s Dáil speech on how the Vatican has failed to address the scandal.
Speaking on RTÉ Wednesday evening, Dr Martin said Mr Kenny’s comments should be a "wake-up call" to immoral priests and dishonest clergymen standing in the way of improved child protection standards.
The archbishop said at the top of this list are those who have stood in the way of true reform of the system.
He said this includes the failure of some priests and bishops to implement Vatican policy issued in 2001 by Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"I’m very disappointed, annoyed," he said. "What do you do when you’ve got groups, whether in the Vatican or in Ireland, who try to undermine what is being done or simply refuse to understand what has been done?
"What does that say? What sort of a cabal is this that is in there (Cloyne) and still refuses to recognise what the norms of the church are?
"If they think that by not getting at the truth they are helping the church, the statement in today’s Dáil should teach them a lesson."
During the interview, Dr Martin accepted that the Vatican was unhelpful in sending a letter in 1997 questioning the authority of Irish bishops to agree on child protection.
An outspoken critic of the Church’s handling of abuse, he said the only way all allegations, abuse and cover-ups can be exposed is through "invasive" audits of each diocese which are not based solely on selective information provided by bishops.
He said: "Ian Elliot (chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children) has moral power, but for moral power to work, you must have people who act morally, and if there are people acting immorally, then moral power won’t be enough."
When asked if his colleagues in the church could be trusted, Dr Martin replied: "I hope they can. But if there is somebody there that is not prepared to be honest, they will only be discovered when an audit is there which has the powers to be invasive.
"I find myself asking today, ‘Can I be proud of the Church that I’m a leader of?’ What I’m seeing, I have to be ashamed of this, and I have to be ashamed because of what was done to the victims and what was done to other people," Dr Martin added.
Speaking on RTÉ Wednesday evening, Dr Martin said Mr Kenny’s comments should be a "wake-up call" to immoral priests and dishonest clergymen standing in the way of improved child protection standards.
The archbishop said at the top of this list are those who have stood in the way of true reform of the system.
He said this includes the failure of some priests and bishops to implement Vatican policy issued in 2001 by Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"I’m very disappointed, annoyed," he said. "What do you do when you’ve got groups, whether in the Vatican or in Ireland, who try to undermine what is being done or simply refuse to understand what has been done?
"What does that say? What sort of a cabal is this that is in there (Cloyne) and still refuses to recognise what the norms of the church are?
"If they think that by not getting at the truth they are helping the church, the statement in today’s Dáil should teach them a lesson."
During the interview, Dr Martin accepted that the Vatican was unhelpful in sending a letter in 1997 questioning the authority of Irish bishops to agree on child protection.
An outspoken critic of the Church’s handling of abuse, he said the only way all allegations, abuse and cover-ups can be exposed is through "invasive" audits of each diocese which are not based solely on selective information provided by bishops.
He said: "Ian Elliot (chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children) has moral power, but for moral power to work, you must have people who act morally, and if there are people acting immorally, then moral power won’t be enough."
When asked if his colleagues in the church could be trusted, Dr Martin replied: "I hope they can. But if there is somebody there that is not prepared to be honest, they will only be discovered when an audit is there which has the powers to be invasive.
"I find myself asking today, ‘Can I be proud of the Church that I’m a leader of?’ What I’m seeing, I have to be ashamed of this, and I have to be ashamed because of what was done to the victims and what was done to other people," Dr Martin added.
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