Under-fire bishop apologises for paedophilia comments

Ten days after making controversial remarks about child sex abuse, the Bishop of Clonfert apologised to survivors for comments which “may have given the impression” he was “minimising the gravity of the criminal activity”.

Abuse groups called for Bishop John Kirby to resign early this month after he admitted that in the 1990s he thought paedophilia was “a friendship that crossed the boundary line”.

Bishop Kirby’s remarks were made on Galway Bay FM following an audit of his diocese by the Catholic Church’s child abuse watchdog. The audit found the bishop moved two priests accused of sexually abusing children to different parishes.