The first Irish bishop to resign since a damning new report into child sex abuse by priests, apologised at a cathedral Mass yesterday, saying he could not "undo the pain" of victims.
A Vatican statement said the Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray following the report, which said Church leaders in overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland had covered up widespread sexual abuse of children by priests for 30 years.
Bishop Murray, the first Irish bishop to quit since the report's publication last month, was criticised for his handling of complaints about abuse in the diocese of Dublin.
"I humbly apologise once again to all those who were abused as little children," he told churchgoers attending Mass in St John's Cathedral in Limerick.
He added that his resignation "cannot undo the pain" of abuse survivors.
Church sources have said a number of bishops mentioned by the report are likely to offer to resign, in what they said would lead to a shake-up of the Irish Roman Catholic Church.
Bishop Murray served for 14 years, until 1996, as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Dublin before being appointed to the diocese of Limerick.
"I asked the Holy Father to allow me to 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," Bishop Murray said.
The Vatican statement did not mention the scandal but said Pope Benedict had accepted Bishop Murray's resignation according to a clause of Canon (Church) Law that calls on bishops to quit if they cannot fulfil their duties for a "serious reason".
The Murphy Commission Report came six months after the release of a similarly damning and even more graphic report about floggings, slave labour and gang rape in Ireland's now defunct Church-run industrial and reform schools in the 20th century.
The report issued on November 26 found the Church had "obsessively" hidden child abuse from 1975 to 2004.
The newspaper said that of the 13 auxiliary (assistant) bishops in the archdiocese who knew about complaints of child sexual abuse over that period, four - including Bishop Murray - "dealt particularly badly with complaints".