An Irish priest censured by the Vatican spoke today of his distress over the disciplinary action.

VATICAN chiefs have ordered trainee priests at Ireland’s national seminary at Maynooth to be physically separated from the university’s 8,000 lay students.

NEW guidelines are to be issued to the country’s 26 dioceses and archdioceses outlining how to best handle sending priests on leave in the event of a clerical abuse allegation.

MEMBERS of the Vatican’s Apostolic Visitation investigation into clerical abuse will be available to meet with abuse victims and their families.

A delegation of Irish archbishops will meet Vatican officials in Rome today to discuss the forthcoming Vatican investigation into clerical sex abuse in Ireland.

The former head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales is one of five senior clerics appointed today to monitor child protection procedures in the church in Ireland.