Child abuse crisis would lead to Irish Church shake-up

Pope Benedict expressed "outrage, betrayal and shame" yesterday at the sexual abuse of children by priests in Ireland, which Church leaders said would lead to a shake-up of the Irish Roman Catholic Church.

Church sources expected some bishops to resign in the wake of a government report that said Church leaders in overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland had covered up widespread abuse of children by priests for 30 years.

"I think that we are looking at a very significant reorganisation of the Church in Ireland," Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said after he and other Irish Church leaders held an emergency meeting with the Pope.

The Vatican said the Pope would write to the Irish people about the crisis and a plan for action - the first time a Pope will devote a document solely to the clergy's abuse of children.

"The Holy Father shares the outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland, and he is united with them in prayer at this difficult time in the life of the Church," a Vatican statement said.

Ireland has been in a state of shock since the publication of the Murphy Commission Report two weeks ago.

The paper said the Church had "obsessively" hidden child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese from 1975 to 2004, and operated a policy of "don't ask, don't tell".

A number of bishops who worked in Dublin during the period covered by the report are likely to offer to resign, Church sources said.

The Vatican statement alluded to this, saying the Vatican would look into "questions concerning the governance of local Church leaders with ultimate responsibility for the pastoral care of children".

It said the report "deeply disturbed and distressed" the Pope, who expressed "his profound regret at the actions of some members of the clergy who have betrayed their solemn promises to God, as well as the trust placed in them by the victims and their families, and by society at large".

Archbishop Martin said: "I really think we need renewal."

He said that, beyond "working very hard on the question of child protection", the Irish Church must renew parish life and get more lay people involved in Church organisation.

The report said all Dublin archbishops in charge during the period under study had been aware of some complaints, but the archdiocese had been more preoccupied with protecting the reputation of the Church than safeguarding children's welfare.

One Irish child abuse victim, Marie Collins, complained that the Vatican statement did not go far enough to address the issue of a cover-up.

"Any normal person would have expected today, after all this time, a statement about some actions that are going to be taken. Instead of that, we got more words. Nothing along the lines of people taking responsibility, anyone being accountable," she told RTE television.