Support groups dismiss Vatican’s statement as ‘pure spin’

GROUPS supporting victims of child clerical sex abuse yesterday said the Vatican was indulging in “pure spin” in its response to the fallout from the Cloyne report.

In a firm rebuttal issued by the Holy See at the weekend, the Vatican said Taoiseach Enda Kenny was wrong to castigate the role of the Catholic hierarchy and to claim that the Church had specifically stymied investigations into child sex abuse.

In its response, the Holy See said the Cloyne report had highlighted “very serious and disturbing failings ... by clerics in the Diocese of Cloyne”.