Pope to meet Irish clerics today

POPE Benedict XVI will head a delegation of senior Vatican officials who will meet with Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Rome today to discuss the continuing fallout from the Murphy report for the Irish Catholic Church and senior bishops.

The two senior members of the Irish hierarchy are expected to inform Pope Benedict about the widespread anger and sadness of the laity at the failure of many bishops properly to handle allegations of child sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin over a 35-year period.

However, it is unclear if there will be any specific discussion about the position of several bishops who were criticised in the report.

A spokesman for the Irish bishops said the two Catholic Primates had been called to the Vatican to enable Pope Benedict “to be briefed and evaluate the painful situation of the Church in Ireland following the recent publication of the Murphy Commission Report”.

Uncertainty still surrounds the position of the Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, who was expected to resign after travelling to Rome at the start of the week.

Dr Murray, who is still understood to be in the Italian capital, has not issued any statement on his future plans since arriving there last Sunday.

Dr Murray has come under strong pressure to resign his position after the Murphy report concluded that he had handled a number of complaints and suspicions “badly”.

In addition, it described as “inexcusable” Dr Murray’s failure to investigate some complaints about the paedophile priest, Fr Thomas Naughton.

A Vatican spokesman said the two Irish clergy were scheduled to meet Pope Benedict at around noon (11am Irish time) today.

However, it is understood the Pope will not issue any direct statement personally at the conclusion of the meeting which is expected to last at least two hours. Instead, it is expected the Vatican will issue a brief statement today.

Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Martin travelled to Rome yesterday as the other members of the Hierarchy continued with their winter general meeting of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Maynooth.

Four other bishops named in the Murphy report, who attended the meeting, defended their role in the handling of allegations of child sexual abuse by priests and insisted they had done nothing wrong.