Taoiseach Enda Kenny denouncing the Vatican on child abuse
YouTube audio recording of Kenny’s speech – The article link has the video
The Vatican has recalled its ambassador to Ireland following the release of an Irish government report that the Vatican had discouraged efforts by bishops to report cases of sex abuse to the police.”
The report, released on July 13, found that clergy leaders in the rural Irish diocese of Cloyne did not act on complaints against 19 priests from 1996 to 2009. It also concluded that the Vatican had encouraged bishops to ignore child-protection guidelines that included the “mandatory reporting” of abuse to civil authorities. [Complete text of the report here]
A brief Vatican statement explaining the decision to recall its ambassador noted, “in particular, the reactions that have followed” the release of the report.
Perhaps the most striking of those reactions was an impassioned denunciation of the Vatican by Ireland’s prime minister, Enda Kenny, who spoke for 12 minutes on the floor of Ireland’s parliament last Wednesday.
As readers can hear in the video of the complete speech, or read in a transcript of the remarks published by The Irish Times, Mr. Kenny began, with barely suppressed anger:
The revelations of the Cloyne report have brought the government, Irish Catholics and the Vatican to an unprecedented juncture. It’s fair to say that after the Ryan and Murphy Reports, Ireland is, perhaps, unshockable when it comes to the abuse of children.
But Cloyne has proved to be of a different order.
Because for the first time in Ireland, a report into 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, disconnection, elitism — the narcissism — that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.
The rape and torture of children were downplayed or “managed” to uphold instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and “reputation.”
Listen or watch. Add your personal judgement to history.
“The rape and torture of children were downplayed or “managed” to uphold instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and “reputation.”
The Vatican has gained a reputation that shocks anyone with a conscience. It is regrettable that there are still so many that don’t have a conscience. The one saving grace in this is the slow demise of all religious institutions is gaining even more momentum.
Long live Darwin.
Mr. Fusion
July 27, 2011 at 1:07 am