Vatican city,September 04 :The Vatican vigorously rejected claims it sabotaged efforts by Irish bishops to report priests who sexually abused children to police and accused the Irish prime minister of making an ‘unfounded’ attack against the Holy See.
The Vatican issued a lengthy response to the Irish government following Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s unprecedented July 20 denunciation of the Vatican’s handling of abuse, in which he cited the “dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.”
His speech followed the publication of a government-mandated independent report into the diocese of Cloyne, which found that the Vatican had undermined attempts by Irish bishops to protect children from predator priests.
The dispute has seriously damaged relations between the Vatican and staunchly Roman Catholic Ireland, with the Vatican recalling its ambassador, and it has prompted the already abuse-weary Irish faithful to demand some accountability from Rome.