Pope consistent on stopping abuse says nuncio to Ireland
(February 20, 2012) Pope Benedict XVI has been ``relentless and consistent'' in seeking
to oust child abusers from the priesthood worldwide, the Vatican’s new Apostolic Nuncio
to Ireland said on Sunday in his first homily in the capital Dublin. United States
Archbishop Charles Brown was making his first public address since officially taking
up his post as the papal nuncio on Feb. 17. “From the beginning, Pope Benedict was
resolute and determined to put into place changes which would give the Church the
ability to deal more effectively with those who abuse trust,” Archbishop Brown told
worshippers and diplomatic guests at a service in Dublin's Pro-Cathedral. Ireland,
a traditionally Catholic nation, has seen Mass attendance plummet in line with nearly
two decades of pedophile-priest scandals. Last year Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused
the Vatican of overseeing a cover-up culture that encouraged the rape of children.
In his homily, Archbishop Brown stressed that the Vatican has have never obstructed
Irish efforts to identify and punish the clerical and religious child abusers, saying
Pope Benedict himself was scandalised and dismayed by them. Later in 2011, Ireland
closed its embassy to the Holy See saying it was purely a cost-cutting measure to
ward off national bankruptcy and not in retaliation to the clerical child abuse.
Diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Ireland however continue uninterrupted
with the Irish ambassador to the Holy See now residing in Ireland and not any more
in Rome. Meanwhile, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told reporters on Sunday he
expected that Ireland and the Vatican would compromise on arrangements to open a new,
cheaper Irish embassy in Rome on the same site as Ireland's Italian embassy.