Pope failed to answer our concerns, say Irish abuse victims

Groups representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland said yesterday a pastoral letter from the pope expressing shame and remorse "falls far short" of addressing their concerns.

One of the main victims' groups, One in Four, bemoaned the lack of an apology for the way victims were dismissed when they tried to complain about their treatment to Church authorities.

Pope Benedict XVI admitted Irish bishops had made serious errors in their response to allegations of sexual abuse, but campaigners said his response to a scandal that has rocked the Church in Ireland left many questions unanswered.

"Victims were hoping for an acknowledgement of the scurrilous ways in which they have been treated as they attempted to bring their experiences of abuse to the attention of the Church authorities," One in Four's executive director Maeve Lewis said. "The lack of an apology to them in this regard is hurtful in the extreme," she added.

Highlighting concerns of a cover-up, the group said the pope had wasted "a glorious opportunity" to address "the deliberate policy of the Catholic Church at the highest levels to protect sex offenders, thereby endangering children."

"There is nothing in this letter to suggest that a new vision of leadership exists," Lewis said.

John Kelly, of Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), who himself was sexually abused as a boy in the notorious Daingean Catholic care home, told AFP that while he welcomed aspects of the letter, it lacked "substance".

The pope promised to send a mission to Irish dioceses affected by the sex abuse to assist "the local Church on her path to renewal".

Kelly asked: "Is the pope now saying we will have a national inquiry into abuse in all the dioceses?"

In the letter, Benedict also states that priests and religious workers guilty of child abuse must answer for their crimes "before properly constituted tribunals".

"Does he mean that those who committed the abuse and those who covered up have to surrender themselves to the police to face the criminal justice system?" Kelly said.

"In short, the basic question is, are the victims likely to get justice as a result of what the pope has said?"