Clerical abuse victims have welcomed the decision by Pope Francis to abolish the Vatican’s strict secrecy rules covering sex abuse proceedings.

Pope Francis confirmed he has accepted the 75-year-old's resignation.

“I am 8 years old

IT seems that the attitude of the Catholic Church in Ireland has undergone little, if any, change judging by the remarks made by a bishop at the funeral of a fellow bishop who was scathingly criticised by the 2009 Murphy inquiry into how the archdiocese of Dublin handled allegations of child abuse by priests.

An alleged victim of clerical sexual abuse has told the trial of a detective charged with forgery she was angry when she found out that a file on her case had never been sent to the DPP.

The overwhelming reaction to the Department of Justice’s intergovernmental report on mother-and-baby homes was that it was too limited and would undermine the thoroughness of any subsequent inquiry.

The Garda phone tapping inquiry is expected to probe how the Department of Justice managed its affairs, the history of who recorded what, and the recent resignation of the Garda commissioner.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, has said children who were abused by priests must be remembered during any criticisms of the Murphy report.

The Association of Catholic Priests elected three new leading spokesmen yesterday as rebel priest Fr Tony Flannery admitted there had been “no change” on his ban on ministry.

Gardaí and successive archbishops and bishops in Dublin have been harshly criticised in a just-released chapter of the Murphy Report for conniving to stop a serial paedophile from being brought to justice.

The relentless work of Mary Raftery exposed what went on behind the walls of the Magdalene Laundries, writes Dan Buckley

The Archbishop of Dublin has defended his decision not to tell a child-protection advocate that a priest in her parish was on restricted ministry due to allegations of child sex abuse.

The Garda ombudsman has launched an inquiry into the Garda handling of abuse claims in the diocese of Cloyne.

Gardaí have expressed confidence that all problems identified in a critical report of the force’s handling of investigations into sexual offences against children are being addressed.

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) has moved a step closer towards launching an investigation into the Garda handling of cases criticised in the Cloyne report.

The Government today faced calls for an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse involving the former Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid.

PRIESTS in the Cloyne Diocese are to meet again to discuss the fall-out from child clerical sex abuse once the official report is published, it has emerged.

Dr Martin has not been open about the plan to pay abuse compensation with parish funds, writes Michael Kelly.

IF the Papal Nuncio had contributed, as requested, to the deliberations of the Murphy Commission investigation into the Dublin and Cloyne dioceses, the Response of the Holy See to the Cloyne Report might have not been cast so heavily in the context of post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this) in a style designed to retrospectively limit reputational damage rather than minimising the risk of children being abused.

ENDA KENNY says he stands over his blistering criticism of the Vatican and has repeated his charge that Rome failed to co-operate with a state inquiry into child sexual abuse as little as three years ago.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has accused the Holy See of unwarranted interference in a government-ordered inquiry into clerical child abuse over three separate years.

THE former child protection delegate in the Diocese of Cloyne has attempted to explain his failure to report complaints of child sex abuse by saying the accused priests were often aged or sick.

THE administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne has issued what amounts to a gagging order on its former child protection officer, Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan, as it emerged a local priest is receiving text messages from women who claim he molested them.

AN archdiocese that failed to inform Cloyne Diocese that a priest returning to Ireland on “health” grounds was the subject of two prior sex abuse claims has secretly paid out AUS$80,000 (€61,399) to his alleged victims.

THE Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) is likely to launch a full investigation after examining the Murphy Commission report on Cloyne.

LEADING clerical child sex abuse survivors have hailed Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s powerful Dáil stance as a moment historians may one day describe as the time when Ireland became a genuine republic.

THE wife of a Cloyne child abuse survivor whose attacker was involved in two previous abuse claim cover-ups has said her husband is “disgusted” information was withheld which could have saved him.

VICTIMS of clerical sex abuse in Cloyne have said Bishop John Magee and Monsignor Denis O’Callaghan should be stripped of their titles by the Vatican.

IT could be a number of months before two Garda reviews of the Cloyne report will be in a position to determine whether or not criminal investigations should be launched.

ARCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin has launched a stinging attack on individuals within Cloyne Diocese and elsewhere for putting their views above both the safety of children and the Church’s rules for their protection.

SUSPECTED paedophile priests identified in the Murphy Commission’s report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin may face charges.

THE Cloyne abuse revelations make it clear that further investigations into child sex assaults by priests must be extended to the rest of the country, campaigners have said.

THE Cloyne Diocese hierarchy spent 10 times more on legal fees and advice than it did on counselling services for abuse victims who came forward.

SEPARATE investigations have begun to examine possible disciplinary breaches or criminal wrongdoing by gardaí criticised in the Cloyne report.

THE Diocese of Cloyne failed to adequately investigate claims by an elderly stroke patient that he was abused as a child in a priest’s home after confession.

A BOARDING school pupil said he was told to “keep his mouth shut” by an alleged abuser who was ordered to step down after regularly drinking with pupils late at night in his room.

AN Irish priest at the centre of two hidden abuse claims in Australia was allowed to retire to Ireland where he attacked and sexually abused at least one young boy in the priest’s private home.

A LONG-awaited report into clerical child abuse in the diocese of Cloyne could be published as early as next week.

A senior garda officer has been appointed to examine claims of clerical sexual abuse by Irish missionaries in Africa.

CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald has expressed concern about the “shortcomings and severe difficulties” experienced by the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children as it tried to investigate child protection in the 26 dioceses.

CHILD protection officers in the country’s 26 dioceses have received training in recent months on how much information to give to alleged abusers following the scandal in Cloyne where victim statements were handed to an accused priest before a garda interview.

CLERICAL abuse victims have expressed horror at a decision by the Diocese of Cloyne to appoint a child protection delegate who was forced to step down to the diocese’s child protection training committee.

UNCERTAINTY surrounds the date of publication of the Dublin Archdiocese investigation into clerical abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne.

A FORMER social worker with the HSE West has been announced as the new child protection delegate in the diocese of Cloyne.

THE DIOCESE of Cloyne has refused to disclose why it suddenly cancelled a meeting in Cork aimed at discussing potential “strategies” once the Murphy Commission report into clerical abuse in the diocese is published.

VICTIMS of clerical sex abuse in the diocese of Cloyne have expressed absolute fury at the decision to draft in a UCD psychologist to prepare priests for the public outcry once the Murphy Commission report into abuse is published.

A CLINICAL psychologist is coming to Cork this weekend to prepare priests from the diocese of Cloyne for the expected public outcry following publication of the Dublin Archdiocese report into the handling of child abuse in the diocese.

COMING, as it does, just weeks after former priest and voracious paedophile and serial liar Tony Walsh was sentenced to 123 years in jail for the most appalling abuses, and as the publication of the report into how claims of child sexual abuse were dealt with in the Diocese of Cloyne is anticipated, the Pope’s Christmas message seems limp, wrong-headed and uninspiring.

ONE of Ireland’s highest ranking Catholics has denounced the Church for becoming self-centred and arrogant — on the same day as a senior minister denied claims the Government backed away from demanding child abuse information from the Vatican.

One of Ireland’s highest ranking Catholics today denounced the Church for having grown self-centred and arrogant in the wake of the clerical child abuse scandals.