The Vatican has miserably failed the victims of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, Martin McGuinness has claimed.

WELL, they would say that, wouldn’t they?

I HAD hoped the meeting of Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin with the Pope in Rome last Saturday would have been marked by dialogue rather than a series of one-sided recriminations. From initial reports it, seems to be more of the latter. A lot will depend on the forthcoming pastoral letter from the Pope.

JOSEPH BARRY (Irish Examiner letters, June 1) wrongly concludes that “the strictest secret” in the Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis refers to “the secrets which a Catholic priest hears from penitents in confession.”

A small but symbolic protest staged by two victims of sex abuse at the hands of American priests was stymied today when police escorted one of them off St. Peter’s Square as she was preparing to distribute leaflets.

Cardinals began “an intense period of silence and prayer” inthe Vatican before their conclave to choose the next pope, saying they will stop speaking publicly to protect the strict secrecy surrounding the centuries-old tradition.

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, has been convicted of raping and fondling a boy at his church during the 1980s.

Christopher Plummer has been cast as Cardinal Bernard Law in Our Fathers, a TV film about the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal in the US.

THE Boston Archdiocese, the epicentre of the US clergy sex abuse crisis that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church, released a report yesterday showing that 162 of its priests have been accused of molesting 815 minors since 1950.

POPE JOHN PAUL II named 30 new Cardinals on Sunday, including Philadelphia archbishop Justin Rigali, further putting his mark on the group that will name his successor.

Pope John Paul II named 30 new cardinals today, further putting his mark on the group that will name his successor.

The Boston Archdiocese has agreed to pay $85m (€76m) to settle more than 550 court claims from people who allege Roman Catholic priests abused them, a leading lawyer in the cases said.

A MULTI-MILLION dollar settlement between more than 500 alleged victims of clergy sex abuse and the Boston archdiocese appeared to be nearly completed following two days of secret negotiations.

A multi-million dollar settlement between more than 500 alleged victims of clergy sex abuse and the Boston Archdiocese appeared to be nearly completed today following two days of secret negotiations.

The Boston Roman Catholic Church paid at least $21.2m (€18.8m) to settle cases involving 149 people between 1994 and 2001, records showed.

The Boston Archdiocese has offered $55m (€48.5m) to settle more than 500 clergy sex abuse lawsuits, according to documents and sources familiar with the talks.

IT is likely that priests and others in the Boston Archdiocese sexually abused more than 1,000 people over a period of six decades, Massachusetts’ attorney general said yesterday, calling the scandal so massive it “borders on the unbelievable”.

POPE John Paul II named Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley to lead the Boston Archdiocese yesterday, sending a recognised leader in the battle against clerical sex abuse into the epicentre of the scandal in the United States.

MORE THAN 1,200 priests in nearly every diocese in America have been accused of sexually abusing children since the Roman Catholic Church in the US became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal a year ago.

“To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war,” Winston Churchill once said, and last week’s meeting between victims of child sexual abuse and Cardinal Desmond Connell proved the point yet again.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE could well have been writing about Cardinal Bernard Law when he wrote: “The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft’ interred with their bones.”

POPE John Paul II yesterday

THE Vatican yesterday gave its approval to the revised US bishops’ policy to combat sex abuse in the clergy, declaring the need to restore the image of the priesthood in a scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church.

The Chairman of the Dublin Council of Priests has spoken out in support of Cardinal Desmond Connell and rejected calls for the Cardinal's resignation.

A Catholic priest in Co Antrim has accused Cardinal Desmond Connell and other senior bishops of treating the victims of clerical child sex abuse with "wicked contempt".

CARDINAL Bernard Law said he hoped his resignation would bring "healing, reconciliation and unity" to the Boston Archdiocese, after an agonising year of revelations of sexual abuse

THE resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law brought relief, prayers and some sadness from Catholics who watched the priest sex abuse scandal mushroom over the past year.

Victims of clerical sex abuse in Ireland have said the Catholic Church needs to offer more than resignations in dealing with the problem of child abuse.

Cardinal Bernard Law, under intense fire in the paedophile priests' scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church in the US, today resigned as Boston’s archbishop.

EMBATTLED Cardinal Bernard Law met with Vatican officials again yesterday, a day after the Boston Archdiocese released more personnel records on sexually abusive priests and 58 clerics submitted a letter calling for Cardinal Law to resign.

The Boston Archdiocese released a new round of personnel records on sexually abusive priests on the same day 58 clerics submitted a letter calling for the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.

CARDINAL Bernard Law sought counsel at the Vatican last night, fuelling speculation he would step down over the deepening sex abuse scandal in Boston.

Boston’s embattled Cardinal Bernard Law, facing new calls for his resignation, has travelled to Rome for consultations with Vatican officials.

Cardinal Bernard Law, the figure at the centre of renewed anger over abuse by Catholic priests in the Boston area, was making an unexpected visit to the Vatican today.

Facing rekindled outrage from priests and parishioners over new revelations of clergy misconduct, Boston Cardinal Bernard Law stayed away from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross today as protesters renewed calls for his resignation.

THOUSANDS of newly released personnel files show that the Archdiocese of Boston went to great lengths to hide priests accused of abuse, including clergy who allegedly snorted cocaine and had sex with girls aspiring to be nuns.

THE Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy rather than face a costly legal battle that could last years.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy rather than face a costly legal battle that could last years.

The Boston Archdiocese and alleged sex abuse victims of defrocked Catholic priest John Geoghan have reached a tentative $10m (€10.06m) settlement.

BOSTON Cardinal Bernard Law, head of the Roman Catholic archdiocese at the centre of a national child sex scandal afflicting the Church, faced a new round of questioning yesterday over his handling of priests accused of molesting children.

Leaders from America’s scandal-scarred Roman Catholic Church will hear out Pope John Paul II and present their own proposals today during an unprecedented discussion on public anger over priestly sexual abuse.

The Pope has summoned American cardinals to the Vatican for an extraordinary meeting to talk about sex scandals that are hitting the Catholic church in the US on an almost daily basis.

US Catholic Church today began the holiest week of its year with its leading cleric promising to get tough on child-abusing priests.

The pope today broke his silence on the sex abuse cases rocking the Roman Catholic Church, saying the ‘‘grave scandal’’ was casting a ‘‘dark shadow of suspicion’’ over all priests.