Pope Benedict is said to be planning some dramatic, even radical changes for the Irish Catholic Church according to an Irish Catholic newspaper columnist, David Quinn, and leading Irish theologian Fr Vincent Twomey. According to Quinn rumours are circulating around the Vatican that in light of the sex-abuse scandal, Pope Benedict is planning a “radical Read more
A priest in Ireland’s troubled Cloyne diocese is urging the church leadership to develop a new way of thinking and acting in light of the scandal facing the diocese. Fr Joseph McGuane, the first ordinary cleric in Cloyne to comment on the child abuse controversies, said that ordinary people were very angry that “justice has Read more
The Vatican’s decision to recall its diplomatic envoy to Ireland is not viewed as a hostile move by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. Bruised under unprecedented criticism resulting from the accusation in the Cloyne Report that the Holy See sabotaged efforts by Catholic bishops to report clerical sexual abuse cases to the police, the Vatican made a Read more
Sexual abuse victims in Ireland may no longer be able to sue the Catholic Church for damages if a landmark court ruling determines priests are not considered as employees. In a case heard this month the Church claimed it is not “vicariously liable” for priests’ actions. This is the first time the Church has used the Read more
A proposed law change by Australian Independent Senator, Nick Xenophon, requiring priests to disclose the sins of penitents, has been dismissed by Fr Brian Lucas, Secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “His proposal does nothing to protect children and flies in the face of a fundamental right of people to practice their religion,” Father Read more
Irish Prime Minister and practising Catholic , Enda Kenny, on Wednesday launched an unprecedented and stinging attack on the Vatican saying that Ireland – Vatican relations could never be the same again. Kenny accused the Vatican for what he said was the first time in Ireland, the Holy See sought to frustrate an inquiry in a democratically Read more
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who was recently snubbed as a speaker at the Vatican’s first major conference of bishops and heads of religious orders on clerical child abuse, said he feels angry at the ‘non-response’ of the church to children who had been abused or put at risk. There are groups in the Vatican and the hierarchy, Read more
Catholic priests in Ireland say they will not reveal peoples’ sins told to them in confession, despite the Irish government requiring priests to report alleged incidents of child abuse. “More than any other issues, it is probably the one that will unite both the liberal and conservative winds of the Church,” Fr Tony Flannery said Read more
A leading church official rejected harsh criticism of the Vatican in the wake the Cloyne report. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, told Vatican Radio July 19 that much of the criticism failed to take into account the efforts of Pope Benedict XVI and other church officials to prevent future cases of child sexual Read more
In light of the ‘souring’ relations between the Irish Government and the Vatican, Pope Benedict’s visit to Ireland is likely to be ‘shelved’. Relations between Ireland and the Vatican have cooled recently in response to the revelations that the retired bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, allegedly acting under Vatican orders, failed to report that 19 Read more