Our politicians take to the skies as church leaders sink below the waves

WHY would the future Cardinal Seán Brady ask an eight-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy to swear on oath that they would not divulge that Fr Brendan Smyth had sexually abused them? The main aim was certainly not to protect other boys from that predator. Fr Brady was apparently more interested in protecting the Catholic Church as an institution from criticism.

The cardinal says he should not be judged by the standards of today — 35 years on. The only difference is the clergy were less likely to be held accountable then. Everybody makes mistakes in life, but anyone who covers up such activities should be removed from any position of authority — not out of vengeance but in order to protect other children by demonstrating that any cover-up is intolerable.

The same standard should apply to the nun who used to deliver the young girl to Brendan Smyth in the Belfast orphanage where he used to lock himself in a room with his unfortunate victim. If the nun was so naive as not to realise there was something grossly suspicious about this, she was not fit to mind children.