Cardinal apologises to abuse survivors

The Catholic primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, has said it is “a matter of deep shame” that Church leaders did not always respond to the cries for help from clerical abuse victims.

Cardinal Brady, who has faced calls for his resignation over his handling of reports about paedophile priests, issued a renewed apology to survivors as part of the theme of reconciliation at yesterday’s International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

In his homily during a Mass in front of several thousand pilgrims at the RDS, Cardinal Brady said Church leaders lamented the burden of painful memories which victims must carry. The cardinal said a piece of Wicklow granite called the Healing Stone, which has been symbolically placed at the heart of the RDS arena, would serve as a reminder of children who were “hurt by a Church that first betrayed their trust and then failed to respond adequately to their pain”.