Pope wants truth on Sex abuse from Irish priests
Pastor Dale Morgan
Pope wants truth on Sex abuse from Irish priests*
From correspondents in Vatican City
October 29, 2006 01:45am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
POPE Benedict XVI today called on the Roman Catholic church in Ireland
to establish the truth about the sexual abuse of children by priests
there and stop it happening again.
"It is an urgent task to rebuild trust and confidence where these have
been damaged,'' he told Irish bishops in Rome, according to remarks
published by the Vatican.
"You have had to respond in recent years to many heartrending cases of
sexual abuse of minors,'' the Pope said.
"These are even more tragic when the abuser is a cleric ... In your
continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem it is important
to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever
steps are necessary to prevent it occurring again.''
Benedict XVI called on the bishops to "ensure that the principles of
justice are fully respected, and above all, to bring healing to the
victims".
The Roman Catholic church in Ireland says that more than 100 priests and
members of religious orders in the archdiocese of Dublin have been
accused of the sexual abuse of children since 1940.
The Irish government set up a commission in 2000 to look into abuses
committed between 1936 and 1999 in orphanages, detention centres,
hospitals and institutions financed by the state but usually run by
Catholic religious orders.
In March 2005 5300 complaints had been registered and 2555 compensation
payments worth €200 million ($331m) made.