VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI has summoned Irish bishops to the Vatican in February to chart a way forward over a child sex abuse scandal that has shaken Ireland, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The Feb 15 to 16 meeting will address the aftermath of revelations that Church authorities covered up for paedophile priests in the mainly Catholic country for some three decades.
The pope already met on Dec 11 with Ireland’s two most senior Roman Catholic churchmen, primate of all Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady and Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, following a shock government report on the scandal in the Dublin archdiocese, Ireland’s biggest. The pope said then he shared “the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland (over) these heinous crimes” catalogued in the report issued in late November.
One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another accepted that he had abused on a fortnightly basis over 25 years.
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