Vatican rejects claim that it blocked reporting of abuse

The Vatican has rejected criticisms by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore that it sought to interfere with the reporting of
clerical child abuse cases to gardaí and undermine the State’s child
protection laws.

In its first formal response to criticisms made
by the Government following the publication of the Cloyne report, the
Vatican said it was "sorry and ashamed" for the sexual abuse of children
in Ireland by priests.

However, it expressed significant
reservations about the content of Mr Kenny’s speech in July when he
said: “for the first time in Ireland, a report in 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, elitism . . . the narcissism that dominates the culture of
the Vatican to this day.”

The Vatican statement says Mr Kenny’s allegations, which “he made no attempt to substantiate” were “unfounded”.

It
said the claims were based on an incorrect reading of a 1997 Vatican
letter expressing “serious reservations” about the Irish bishops’ 1996
policy requiring bishops to report abusers to gardaí.

The Hoy See
said it also does not accept the charge that “the Vatican intervened to
effectively have priests believe they could in conscience evade their
responsibilities under Irish law”.

"In this regard, the Holy See
wishes to make it quite clear that it in no way hampered or sought to
interfere in any inquiry into cases of child sex abuse in the Diocese of
Cloyne," the Vatican said in the statement.

"Furthermore, at no
stage did the Holy See seek to interfere with Irish civil law or impede
the civil authority in the exercise of its duties."

In July, the
Dáil passed a motion deploring the Holy See for "undermining child
protection frameworks" after a letter to Irish bishops appeared to
diminish Irish guidelines on reporting sex abuse by referring to them as
"study guidelines".

The Vatican said today this accusation was
“not supported by an objective reading of the Cloyne report, nor by the
fact that the common practice of the Irish bishops was to apply the
framework document”.

It also rejected accusations it diminished
the policy’s seriousness, saying the bishops themselves never sought to
make it binding.

"In a spirit of humility, the Holy See, while
rejecting unfounded accusations, welcomes all objective and helpful
observations and suggestions to combat with determination the appalling
crime of sexual abuse of minors," the Vatican said.

The Holy See
also takes issue with comments made by the Tánaiste in a meeting with
the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, on July 14th, at which he
demanded a response to the findings of the Cloyne report.

The
Vatican said today this claim was not supported by the Cloyne report and
that it did not accept the charge that “the Vatican intervened to
effectively have priests believe they could in conscience evade their
responsibilities under Irish law”.

The Vatican’s statement focuses
on the Government’s response to the Cloyne report, rather than on the
findings of the report itself. 

The Holy See said this is because it does
not want to encroach on matters where the civil authorities are
considering possible criminal or civil prosecutions.

Source