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BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

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Pope accepts resignation of
the Bishop of Limerick

by PADDY AGNEW in Rome

Dec. 17, 2009


The Vatican confirmed this morning that Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray.

Bishop Murray is one of a number of auxiliary bishops criticised in the Murphy commission report into the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004.

In a brief statement, the Vatican confirmed: “The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the diocese of Limerick, presented by Monsignor Donal Brendan Murray, in conformity with article 401,2 of Code of Canon Law."

Article 401.2 of Canon Law, as promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1984, reads: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly required to present his resignation from office”.

Asked about the “other grave cause” which prompted Bishop Murray’s resignation, senior Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told The Irish Times : “That seems to me obvious, given the situation that had been created by the publication of the (Murphy) Report and given that he was one of the people involved in the events dealt with by the report. For that reason and for the good of the church, for a greater serenity, he spontaneously presented his resignation.”

Asked if Bishop Murray had met with the Pope whilst in Rome last week, Father Lombardi said: “I don’t believe he did, I have no information in regard to that, as far as I know the normal procedure was followed and that would mean that Bishop Murray discussed his situation with Cardinal Re at the Congregation of Bishops. Then the Cardinal will have informed the Holy Father.

Fr Lombardi acknowledged that the resignation had been expected by the Holy See, saying: “This was not a surprise, he was in Rome a number of days ago, and he presented his resignation off his own initiative and his own will. The diocese now remains vacant and a diocesan administrator will now be elected until such time as a successor, a new Bishop is appointed, all in line with normal practice.”

Asked if the resignation of Bishop Murray might be merely the first of several resignations by those mentioned in the Murphy report, Fr Lombardi said: “I have no idea and I have nothing to say about that."

In an address to churchgoers at Mass at St John's Cathedral in Limerick this morning, Bishop Murray said he "humbly" apologised to those who were abused as children. He had heard the views of many survivors, especially in the days following the publication of the Murphy report.



"Some expressed the wish that I should resign; others asked me not to do so. I know full well that my resignation cannot undo the pain that survivors of abuse have suffered in the past and continue to suffer each day. I humbly apologise once again to all who were abused as little children. To all survivors of abuse I repeat that my primary concern is to assist in every way that I can, on their journey towards finding closure and serenity."

The bishop said he had asked the Pope to allow him resign and to appoint a new bishop to the diocese because "I believe that my presence will create difficulties for some of the survivors who must have first place in our thoughts and prayers."

The other bishops named by the official report as taking part in covering up the sex offenses against children and minos by their priests should follow Mons. Murray's lead, if only to give the Church of Ireland a real chance to start a new page.

One can only pray that all the parties guilty one way or the other in this sordid story will spend the rest of their days doing penance appropriately for their misdeeds, preferably in some sort of ongoing apostolic work for the victims and their families.



Pope accepts Irsh bishop's reignation
in the wake of the child abuse report

by Frances D'Emilio



VATICAN CITY, Dec. 17 (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Limerick's bishop, who was heavily criticized in an Irish investigation of clergy sex abuse of children and a church hierarchy cover-up, the Vatican said Thursday.

The one-line announcement that Monsignor Donal Murray had resigned did not mention the scandal.

It said, however, that Murray resigned under a Canon Law provision that allows bishops, younger than the mandatory retirement age of 75, to step down when they become "unsuited" to continue in the post.

Unsuitability can result from illness, or some other circumstance, such as scandal.

Murray, 69, a former assistant bishop in Dublin, had been widely expected to resign, following a devastating report issued last month that alleged that the Church in Ireland shielded more than 100 child-abusing priests from the law.

The Irish government-sanctioned investigation found four other serving bishops and five retired bishops, including Cardinal Desmond Connell, as playing a role in the scandal cover-up lasting for decades.

The report said that Church leaders in the Dublin Archdiocese failed to inform authorities about sexual abuse by priests, while police failed to pursue allegations under the belief that
Church figures were above the law
. [This second element is hardly ever mentioned in the news reports so far about the scandal.]

Two bishops, Martin Drennan of Galway and Eamonn Walsh of Dublin, have said they have no intention of tendering their resignation to the Pope. [Why won't they, if they are named as part of the cover-ups in the report, and what will the Vatican do then, in their case?]

The Vatican has been harshly criticized in Ireland, a nation of staunch Catholic traditions, for failing to answer letters from the Dublin Archdiocese investigators.

But earlier this month, the Vatican described Benedict as being "deeply disturbed" by the sex-abuse scandal and said he will write a letter to Catholics in Ireland with the Holy See's response. It said also the pope shares the "outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by many Irish faithful.

Benedict met at the Vatican this month with senior Irish clergy to discuss a possible response.

The 720-page report found that dozens of church leaders in Ireland's most populous diocese kept secret the record of child abuse by more than 170 clerics since 1940.

Police and social workers charged with stopping child abuse didn't start getting cooperation from the Church until 1995. This opened the floodgates to thousands of abuse complaints expected to cost the Dublin Archdiocese millions of euros.


Irish bishop resigns
over child sex abuse




VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop, Donal Murray, over Ireland's child sex abuse scandal, the Vatican announced.

Murray, the bishop of Limerick, was named in a report last month that concluded that top prelates concealed clerical abuse and failed to inform police of offences over a period of more than three decades.

Other senior church officials, including four archbishops cited in the report, face growing pressure to resign.

One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another confessed that he had abused children on a fortnightly basis over 25 years.

The pope met at his request last week with Ireland's two most senior Roman Catholic churchmen, primate of all-Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady and Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the participants did not discuss whether any of those implicated in the scandal should resign.

But Martin told reporters afterward: "We will need a very significant reorganisation of the Church in Ireland."

The Pope apologised for the abuse, saying he "shares the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland (over) these heinous crimes".

The Vatican statement last Friday said the Church "will continue to follow this grave matter with the closest attention in order to understand better how these shameful events came to pass and how best to develop effective and secure strategies to prevent any recurrence."


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/12/2009 17:26]
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