The Vatican has recalled its ambassador to Ireland for “consultations” on the official church response to a government report that tallied how abuse cases were mishandled as recently as two years ago.
The extraordinary move to recall the papal nuncio, Monsignor Giuseppe Leanza, is also meant to show “a certain note of surprise and regret regarding some excessive reactions” to the report, Vatican spokesman Rev. Ciro Benedettini said on Monday
I look forward to the Vatican response. The speech by the Prime Minister was a must read/see in watching the moment a Christian country moved beyond its Christian identify, per se, and said that civil law was more important then canon law. Echoes of the Medieval age tension between nation and religious law here in the modern age. I read portions of the Cloyne report and if accurate, is pretty devastating.
This was the Vatican response. By withdrawing the envoy they make clear that they are taking matters very seriously. But sadly the Irish are now part of the EU and that body is secular and liberal and I believe it may well be pulling the strings.
Well, although it is true to say that recalling the Nuncio was a Vatican action and he was not expelled, it would also be true to say that the Vatican’s hand was forced – and there were threats to expel him.
The speech from the Taoiseach following the publication of the Cloyne report was well reported over at the Catholic Herald:
“The report also accused the Vatican of being “entirely unhelpful†to Irish bishops who wanted to implement stronger norms for dealing with accusations and protecting children.
Addressing parliament last week, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said the Cloyne Report “exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years agoâ€.
“And in doing so, the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day,†the prime minister said.”
As a matter of interest the dysfunctional, disconnected, elitist and the narcissistic Vatican state is NOT in the European Union ……. Gosh, let’s blame everyone else shall we? ……….