Two Catholic bishops whose resignations over a child sex abuse report were rejected by the Vatican will still be able to administer Confirmation, it emerged today.

The Pope has decided not to accept the resignation of two auxilliary Bishops who stepped down in the wake of the Murphy report.

A NUMBER of priests across the country have expressed their disappointment at how the Vatican has handled the fallout from the Murphy Report and the ongoing revelations of a global clerical abuse cover-up.

The drip-feeding of disclosures needs to stop and a national inquiry launched, campaigners said tonight after another Irish bishop apologised for failing to deal properly with abuse allegations against a priest.

A second bishop was dramatically removed from the Catholic hierarchy over child sex abuse scandals tonight, with another three senior clerics expected to face the same fall from grace.

Victims of clerical abuse tonight accused Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of closing ranks with senior clergy over the cover-up of paedophile priests.

A Vatican meeting between Irish bishops and Pope Benedict XVI will enter its second day today with the past handling of child abuse scandals top of the agenda.

The authorities are paralysed to bring paedophile priests and the senior clerics who covered up decades of horrific abuse to justice, victims have claimed today.

A Vatican meeting between Irish bishops and Pope Benedict XVI gets under way today with the past handling of child abuse scandals on the agenda.

Survivors of clerical abuse tonight demanded leadership and accountability from Pope Benedict as bishops prepared for a major Vatican summit over the devastating scandals.

Catholic bishops gathered for an extraordinary general meeting today in the wake of the damning report into clerical child sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.

Irish bishops have been hauled before Vatican chiefs in the wake of devastating child abuse scandals, it was revealed today.

A LEADING theologian who called for all bishops named in the Murphy report to resign has backtracked, insisting the Bishop of Galway should not be forced from his post.

THE Bishop of Galway, Martin Drennan, is coming under increased pressure to reverse his decision not to resign due to the findings of the Murphy report into cleric child sex abuse in Dublin.

The last of five bishops named in an expose of the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child sex abuse will not resign, his spokesman said tonight.

Pressure is mounting on the only serving bishop named in the Murphy report yet to resign.

Two more Bishops have resigned in the wake of the damning Murphy report.

PRESSURE is mounting on three serving bishops named in the Murphy report to step down from office after Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty announced he had offered his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI.

GROUPS that provide support for those abused by Irish Catholic clerics last night called on all bishops named in the Murphy report to resign.

A SENIOR theologian has urged all five still-practising bishops who failed to prevent the sexual abuse of children in the Dublin Archdiocese to resign for the sake of the Church.

IRELAND’S war dead were honoured at a ceremony in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, yesterday.

IRISH bishops have condemned the death sentence imposed on deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese laid a wreath in honour of Irishmen and women who died in wars or on duty with the United Nations yesterday.

THE words were eloquent but the silence said it better.