Letter to bishops caused controversy

THE Vatican became embroiled in the latest Irish Church scandal after revelations about a 1997 letter from the then papal nuncio Archbishop Luciano Storero to Irish bishops, a year after reporting guidelines were enforced to enhance child protection.

The correspondence stated that the bishops’ policy was “merely a discussion document” and that the Vatican had serious moral and canon reservations about mandatory reporting of clerical abuse.

But the Vatican says that taken out of context, the comments in the letter to Irish bishops “could be open to misinterpretation, giving rise to understandable criticism”.