Vatican did not tell bishops to cover up abuse cases, spokesman says

(January 20, 2011) A Vatican official downplayed a 1997 Vatican letter to Irish bishops about handling cases of clerical sex abuse, saying the letter did not tell bishops to keep the cases secret from the police. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman and Director of Vatican Radio said the letter aimed at ensuring the bishops fully followed church law for dealing with accusations in order to avoid a situation in which an abusive priest could return to ministry on the technicality of his bishop mishandling the process. The letter, brought to public attention January 17 by Ireland's RTE television and published by the Associated Press, was written by Archbishop Luciano Storero, then-nuncio to Ireland. The letter summarized the concerns of the Congregation for Clergy regarding proposed Irish norms for dealing with the sex abuse crisis. Archbishop Storero said that according to the congregation, "the situation of 'mandatory reporting' gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature." Father Lombardi said, "One must note that the letter in no way says that the country's laws must not be followed." He told Catholic News Service on Wednesday that the Vatican "does not have a universal, specific position on mandatory reporting because the laws and situations are so different from country to country."