Church under fire as papers point to child abuse cover-up

THE Catholic Church was under fire again on the issue of clerical child sex abuse last night after the discovery of papers which appear to show the hierarchy had orders from the Vatican to cover up the scandal.

The Conference of Irish Bishops moved to play down the significance of the papers which, they said, were “open to interpretation” but survivors of abuse said their discovery would blow apart attempts by the Church to maintain it didn’t know what was going on.

Lawyers for abuse victims in the United States discovered the official Vatican document which contains instructions to Catholic bishops to maintain complete secrecy about all complaints or allegations of sexual abuse or risk excommunication.