VATICAN MEETING:POPE BENEDICT XVI will today hold a midday meeting with the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and Cardinal Sean Brady to discuss the "painful situation of the church in Ireland" in the wake of the publication of the Murphy commission report.
Both senior Irish church figures are likely to communicate to the pope the sense of outrage in Irish public opinion prompted by the report’s findings.
Pope Benedict will be accompanied by a formidable delegation of Curia heavyweights including, among others, the secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the prefect for the Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada, the prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes and the prefect of the Congregation of Consecrated Life (Religious Orders) Franc Rodé. The papal nuncio in Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, is also due to attend.
Vatican spokesmen were unable to confirm yesterday whether the pope will himself issue a statement in the wake of the meeting, due to take place in the Apostolic Palace.
When John Paul II met the US bishops in the Vatican to discuss the US clerical sex abuse crisis in April 2002, he issued a strong statement in which he said, “people need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young”.
Many Vatican observers believe that today’s meeting will serve little purpose if not accompanied by some visible Holy See action, or at least reaction.
There is little mystery about the pope’s “zero tolerance” view of clerical sex abuse.
Days before being elected pope, he spoke of the need to clean up “the dirt” within the church, whilst when meeting the Irish bishops for their “ad limina” visit in October 2006, he called on the Irish church to work hard to regain the “trust and confidence” of those who had been hurt.
While it is expected that today’s meeting will see Pope Benedict express approval for the manner in which the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has handled the Murphy report, the pope is also likely to ask if there is any end in sight to a scandal that has rocked the Irish Catholic Church for the best part of the last 15 years.
Vatican observers suggest that the Holy See is deeply worried that the Murphy report may prompt similar investigations into every diocese in Ireland, with a consequent barrage of further negative publicity.