Irish bishop resigns following child sex scandal report

(December 18, 2009) The first Irish bishop to resign since a damning new report into child sex abuse by priests in Ireland, apologised at a cathedral Mass on Thursday, saying his resignation cannot "undo the pain" of victims. A Vatican statement on Thursday did not mention the scandal but said Pope Benedict had accepted the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick according to a clause of the Canon Law that calls on a bishop to resign if because of illness or some other grave reason he becomes unsuited for the fulfilment of his office. Murray is the first Irish bishop to quit since the publication of the Murphy Commission Report last month that accused Church leaders in overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland of covering up widespread sexual abuse of children by priests for 30 years. Bishop Murray was criticised for his handling of complaints about abuse in the diocese of Dublin. Bishop Murray who expressed his apologies to churchgoers at Mass in St John's Cathedral in Limerick, served for 14 years, until 1996, as auxiliary bishop in Dublin Archdiocese before being appointed to the diocese of Limerick. Pope Benedict had met the president of the Irish bishops' conference, Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Dairmuid Martin of Dublin on Dec 6 in the Vatican in connection with the scandal. The Vatican said that the Holy Father shared the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland. He asked Catholics in Ireland and throughout the world to join him in praying for the victims, their families and all those affected by these heinous crimes.