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Sat 04 Apr 2010The truth is that child abuse and cover-up are not primarily about religion or sex. They are about power

In a week when the Pope’s right-hand man pointed to homosexuality as the cause of paedophilia, FINTAN O'TOOLElooks at the church’s response to the child abuse cover-up and asks what it is all about

THERE IS A word that became current towards the fag end of the Northern Ireland conflict, when evil had been reduced to banalities. An atrocity against one community would often be met on the other side, not with either outright support or condemnation but with “what-aboutery”. Yes, some would shrug, this is terrible but what about Bloody Sunday? What about Enniskillen? What about Cromwell?

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