Pope Benedict XVI was scandalised and dismayed by the abuse perpetrated by some members of the clergy and of religious congregations, his new envoy to Ireland said today.

US Archbishop Charles John Brown has been announced as Ireland's new papal nuncio.

A “CABAL” in the Catholic Church hierarchy has refused to recognise decades-old procedures for reporting abuse cases, undermining transparency and putting children in grave danger of attacks.

A senior cardinal defended the Roman Catholic Church’s practice of frequently not reporting sexual abusive priests to the police, saying it would have been like testifying against a family member at trial.

A priest in a town southeast of Paris has been accused of sexual assault and child pornography charges after a 22-year-old former choirboy accused him of abuse, and a police search found pictures of a young parishioner in his home, a prosecutor said.

STEVEN GEIER says that four times in the mid-1960s, the Rev Lawrence Murphy coaxed the then-14-year-old student into a closet at St John’s School for the Deaf just outside Milwaukee and molested him, using God to justify his actions.

A conservative religious order that enjoyed the favour of Pope John Paul II has apologised to victims of sexual abuse by its founder.

Former students of a US priest suspected of molesting up to 200 deaf boys have given details of his alleged offences against them.

TOP Vatican officials, including the future Pope Benedict XVI, did not react to letters about an American priest who molested as many as 200 deaf school children.

A US Roman Catholic archbishop warned a top Vatican office led by the future Pope Benedict XVI about a priest who may have molested as many as 200 deaf boys, according to documents obtained by The New York Times, but the priest never was defrocked.

THE Pope’s brother admitted yesterday that he slapped pupils across the face after he took over a renowned German boys’ choir in the 1960s and was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir, but did nothing about it.

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.

ALL hell is breaking loose in Medjugorje following the Pope’s crackdown on the world’s largest illicit Catholic shrine.

ARCHBISHOP of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin yesterday rejected claims that Pope Benedict XVI led a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic priests.

Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin today rejected claims Pope Benedict XVI led a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic priests.

THE Vatican yesterday expressed deep concern over a possible new scandal set off by an African archbishop who announced he was championing the cause of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

A cardinal and one-time papal contender has said that condoms were the “lesser evil” in combating the spread of Aids, the latest senior churchman to diverge from the Vatican’s opposition to artificial contraception.

THE Church does not always have to penalise paedophile priests because they may be acting on urges and impulses “beyond their control”, a commentary on Canon law advises.

The former East Germany’s secret police used a total of eight agents over the years to report on Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, the agency that oversees the Stasi’s files said today.

POPE Benedict XVI had a “friendly” meeting with one of his fiercest critics — dissident Swiss theologian Hans Kueng, the Vatican said yesterday.

Pope Benedict XVI faced a strong challenge for the papacy from an Argentine cardinal, a secret diary kept by a member of the conclave that elected him to the Holy See revealed today.

The owner of the house in southern Germany where Pope Benedict XVI was born today said she planned to sell it because swarms of tourists were making her life impossible.

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 former seminarian is seeking to bring Pope Benedict XVI before a Texas court to explain what he believes was an attempt to protect priests from the law, writes Caroline O’Doherty.

VICTIMS of clerical child sex abuse here have been urged to name the Pope as a responsible party in any legal proceedings they take against the Catholic Church.

Moving confidently through his first days as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI acted to guarantee continuity in church leadership while trying to brighten his austere image.

Officials and churchgoers from around the world expressed hope today that the new Pope will continue the work of his predecessor by building interfaith bridges. Even China said icy ties with the Vatican could improve – but only if the church breaks off relations with Taiwan.

The President, the Taoiseach, opposition politicians and Catholic bishops in Ireland have all welcomed the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope.

POPE Benedict XVI’s leadership will be “crucial” amid the complexities of the modern world, says President Mary McAleese.

THE Primate of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh Seán Brady, has described Pope Benedict XVI as a man of great ability coupled with an uncluttered vision.

GERMAN Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy for the past 23 years, took the name Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a long-time guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy, has been elected pope this afternoon in the first conclave of the new millennium.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger alienated some Roman Catholics in Germany with his zeal enforcing church orthodoxy. But in the conservative Alpine foothills of Bavaria where he grew up, he remains a favourite son who many think will make a good pope.

BLACK smoke wafted from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney in Vatican City yesterday evening, signalling that the cardinals holding the first papal conclave of the new millennium had held their first vote — but failed to elect a new leader for the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, considered a top contender to be the next Pope, made his final stump speech before being sequestered in the Sistine Chapel today, lashing out at the trends he said were taking root in the Roman Catholic Church.

Housekeepers, car drivers and other people with access to cardinals during the conclave took an oath of secrecy yesterday, promising never to reveal the details behind the selection of the next pope.

In the spirit of secrecy during the week before their conclave to elect a pope, cardinals are supposed to keep a low profile. That has not happened for German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The world’s Catholics are looking to the College of Cardinals to begin the difficult task of choosing a worthy successor to Pope John Paul II today, as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who filled Rome to bursting for the pontiff’s funeral began their journey home.

AN edited version of the homily read, in Italian, by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger during the funeral Mass of Pope John Paul.

The world yesterday said a final farewell to Pope John Paul II.

PRESIDENTS, prime ministers and kings joined pilgrims and prelates in St Peter’s Square yesterday to bid an emotional farewell to Pope John Paul II at a funeral service that drew millions to Rome for the largest gathering of the powerful and the humble in modern times.

ALL morning helicopters thumped the skies and police sirens wailed as motorcades crossed the city and the bell of St Peter's struggled to broadcast its message that the hour was drawing near.

Presidents, prime ministers and kings joined pilgrims and prelates in St Peter’s Square today to bid farewell to Pope John Paul at a funeral service that drew millions to Rome for one of the largest religious gatherings in the West of modern times.