One in Four's Lewis: Vatican letter shows bishops 'left hanging'

One in Four director Maeve Lewis has said a letter which revealed Rome had reservations about reporting child sex abuse to the Gardaí showed bishops were "left hanging" between having to abide by Irish law, Catholic Church law and guidelines they had agreed themselves.

The head of the abuse-survivors support group said: “In practice it would appear that the Vatican was at all costs avoiding the laicisation of priests and leaving bishops with little authority.