Pope calls Irish church leaders to Vatican to discuss abuse report

(Dec.08,2009): Pope Benedict XVI has asked the president of the Irish bishops' conference and the archbishop of Dublin to come to the Vatican to discuss the painful situation of the church in Ireland, following a report detailing the church's failures in addressing clerical sexual abuse. Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope's meeting with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish bishops' conference, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin would take place on Friday (Dec. 11.)
The spokesman said the meeting would include the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and the heads of several Vatican offices dealing with sex abuse and related issues.
Papal spokesman, Father Lombardi said the Pope wanted to discuss and have Vatican officials evaluate the findings of the so-called Murphy Report, which was released Nov. 26. The report by the independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, looked specifically at the handling of some 325 abuse claims in the Archdiocese of Dublin during the period from January 1975 to May 2004.