Buck stops with the Pope

So, after all that, all the Vatican has to say is that it is ‘dismayed’ at the ‘sinful and criminal acts’ of the Irish Catholic hierarchy and the abuses that same Vatican allowed it to inflict on men, women and children in Ireland for decades.

The scale of denial, and the refusal to acknowledge responsibility, puts those who wrote this report on a par with those who compile the terms of reference for the various tribunals we set up in Ireland and those who compile the final reports. In all cases, no one is ever responsible for anything.

Former US President Harry Truman had a paperweight on his desk stating ‘the buck stops here’, meaning in his role as president he was ultimately responsible for all the decisions at all government levels in the name of his office.

Lest there be any doubt, the Irish hierarchy took its orders from Rome. The rules — as if any were needed when basic humanity would dictate the victims should receive the full care and protection of their church — about how to respond to victims of abuse, were decided by, among others, the current Pope and all his predecessors. Instead of showing Christian compassion to the victims of abuse they chose instead to use every means within their power to protect the abuser above all others.

Not one of the current hierarchy can claim they put the Church’s responsibility to the victims at the heart of their actions. Because, if they had, they’d have resigned their positions and they’d have publicly stated the reason was because they could not condone the request from their superiors to force victims of abuse to remain silent and to then use the resources of the Church to protect the abuser.

Nowhere in this report can I see where the religious admit the complete and utter lack of humanity it displayed for decades in its dealings with the people, who are in fact the Church. The men, women and children who attend Mass every week and who try their best to live their lives with the compassion their God asks of them, but who experienced none of that compassion from their Church. That abuse was not just physical and emotional, it was financial, too, because the biggest churches were usually built among the poorest communities.

It seems, this report, like others, was written by the Vatican legal team so as to ensure it could not be exposed to financial liability.

This is even more shameful because, not despite, the fuller knowledge we now have, about the scale of abuse inflicted by the Catholic religious in Ireland. A scale of abuse inflicted with the full knowledge and active support of the religious authorities in Rome.

If the Catholic Church in Ireland really has repented and accepted its sins, then it should do so with no qualifications, and acknowledge that the buck stops with the successor of St Peter himself.

Desmond FitzGerald

Canary Wharf

London