Cardinal Brady had turned 75 in August and according to Church law, bishops are asked to submit their resignations to the Pope at that stage.

The Pope can either accept or reject the resignation.

Cardinal Brady, who was primate of Ireland for 18 years, reportedly submitted his resignation in July.

His tenure was dogged by allegations of child abuse cover-ups, falling church attendance and strained relations with the Irish government.

Cardinal Brady publicly apologised for mishandling allegations of abuse after it emerged that in 1975 he was present at meetings with two teenagers who alleged they were sexually abused by Fr Brendan Smyth.

Instead of going to the authorities, the priests swore the alleged victims to secrecy, victims groups charged.

A BBC documentary in 2012 charged that Cardinal Brady had failed to ensure the safety of other victims.

In June, clerical abuse victim Marie Kane asked the Pope to remove Cardinal Brady from his post over the scandal.

This was on the same day that Francis held a Mass with adult victims.

Cardinal Brady has long maintained that he was just there to take the minutes of the meetings; as a young priest, he had no authority over Fr Smyth.

Cardinal Brady later said he was "shocked, appalled and outraged" to learn the Belfast priest went on to abuse others until the mid-1990s, when he was convicted of more than 100 charges of abuse.

Fr Smyth died in prison in 1997.

In his resignation statement, Cardinal Brady referred to the past abuse, saying he needed to apologise and to ask for forgiveness.

At the same time, he added, he must "trust in the mercy of God".

On learning of Cardinal Brady's resignation, another clerical abuse victim Marie Collins tweeted that she was unimpressed.

"If Cardinal Brady had resigned in 2010 when Brendan Smyth failures became known it might have meant something to survivors — meaningless now," she tweeted.

Ms Collins is a member of the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors, established by Pope Francis.

Cardinal Brady is replaced in Armagh by Archbishop Eamon Martin, who was appointed co-adjutor there last year.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• Sydney Morning Herald
• BBC
• Catholic Herald
• Image: RTE

Brendan Boland's memoir "Sworn to Secrecy" reproduces for the first time an oath of secrecy that he signed and that the then Fr Brady co-signed in the 1970s.

When he was an altar server, Boland had suffered horrific abuse from serial abuser Fr Brendan Smyth for three years.

After the teenager told a Dominican priest about the abuse, a secret canonical inquiry was convened, for which Fr Brady acted as notary.

The 14-year-old was required to attend the inquiry alone.

Mr Boland acquired transcripts of the inquiry through legal discovery procedures when he took a High Court action against the Archdiocese of Armagh and Cardinal Brady.

They show he was asked about any sexual encounters he might have had with other men, masturbation and confession.

Brendan Boland and his father were assured in 1975 that Fr Smyth would be dealt with.

But the priest continued to abuse other children for two decades before he was convicted on dozens of counts.

Mr Boland said he "knew that the quizzing about confession was all about me and my fault".

"Then I was just terrified and scared.

"Today I am angry, furious. Even as I am recounting this, I want to smash my fist against the bloody wall beside me," he said.

Mr Boland's case was settled in 2012 for €100,000 plus costs, after Cardinal Brady had offered €10,000 compensation in 2011.

Mr Boland told The Tablet Cardinal Brady might like to consider resigning immediately.

The cardinal is due to submit his resignation to the Pope when he turns 75 in August.

Marie Kane, who was one of six survivors of clerical abuse who met Pope Francis two weeks ago, has threatened to write to the Pope if Cardinal Brady does not offer his resignation now.

Similar calls for Cardinal Brady's resignation were made several years ago, when Mr Boland took part in a TV documentary outlining the way his complaints were handled by the Church.

The apostolic nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown, said he had not read the book, but expressed confidence in Cardinal Brady.

In 2010, Cardinal Brady apologised to those who had been hurt by Fr Smyth's abuse.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Irish Independent
• Belfast Telegraph
• Telegraph
• Image: Telegraph

Archbishop Martin said "I know it's not fashionable today to talk about Commissions but I do really believe that an independent Commission of investigation into the activities of Brendan Smyth, as to how he was allowed to abuse for so many years," should be set up.

It would look "north and south" at " church and state." He felt this would be in the public interest so that the full story would be told "and not the bits and pieces which either an investigative journalist or diocesan investigation," would uncover.

That Fr Smyth was allowed to hear confessions in the Kilmore Diocese from 1984, the Archbishop commented, "I find it very hard to justify, but I believe that the only way we'll really get to understand that is if we have one global independent investigation…I believe that until all of this story in its entirety comes out we are not doing justice to those who were abused and we're not really getting at the truth…"

Concerning Cardinal Brady's role as a notary in the initial investigation into Smyth in 1975, he said "I don't know what the relationship between him (Brady) and the bishop was. I don't know what the bishop did (or) what he knew the bishop did. Looking back at the Dublin inquiry I've seen that these are complex questions and I wouldn't like to judge a person on things that I don't know…..it'd be unfair of me to make that judgement."

Cardinal Seán Brady has welcomed the call for an independent inquiry into Fr Brendan Smyth's abuse of children in Ireland and elsewhere over a 40-year period.

A spokesman for the cardinal said that he "welcomed and supported" the proposal made by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.

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