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The Boston Archdiocese has admitted for the first time that Irish sex abuse priests worked in its diocese. The priests, named as Brendan Smyth, Dennis Murphy and Joseph Maguire, were transferred from Ireland to the U.S. in what critics say was little more than an attempt to insulate the priests from scrutiny and possible prosecution

Two months after the Murphy Report placed a culture of staggering abuse and cover-up in the Dublin archdiocese in public view, and five weeks since Pope Benedict said he shared the "outrage, betrayal and shame" of the Irish people at the state inquiry's revelations, word's emerged that the Pope has called a second summit on the crisis' fallout, this time bringing together all of the Isle's 70 bishops: The Irish Catholic has learned that the key meetings will take place on Monday and Tuesday, February 15 and 16, and it is believed, similar to the Pope's meeting with Cardinal...

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has apparently issued an ultimatum to four bishops embroiled in the Irish Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal — to either quit or be fired by the Vatican.

Bishop Martin Drennan of Galway has said his conscience is clear and he has no intention of resigning from his post at present despite calls for him to stand down as the fallout from the Murphy report continues. Calls for the resignation of Bishop Drennan, one of five serving bishops named in the report into the handling of child abuse complaints, increased after Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray stepped down yesterday. Bishop Drennan served as auxiliary bishop of Dublin from 1997 to 2005. He is named in the report in connection to reports of inappropriate behaviour relating to Fr Guido...

BISHOP Donal Murray finally resigned today, three weeks after he was criticised for his failure to deal with a paedophile priest. The Bishop told Mass-goers that his resignation “cannot undo the pain that survivors of abuse have suffered”. “I humbly apologise once again to all who were abused as little children,” he added. The now ex-Bishop of Limerick was heavily criticised by the Murphy Report into clerical sex abuse in Dublin. The investigation named Murray as someone who did not deal properly with suspicions in relation to Fr Tom Naughton, yesterday jailed for abusing a six-year-old altar boy more than...

VATICAN CITY, 17 DEC 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Limerick, Ireland, presented by Bishop Donal Brendan Murray, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

DUBLIN — A fiercely debated, nine-year investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades — and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation. High Court Justice Sean Ryan on Wednesday unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions.

DUBLIN — A fiercely debated, nine-year investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades — and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation. High Court Justice Sean Ryan on Wednesday unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students and officials from more than 250 church-run institutions. More than 30,000 children deemed to be petty thieves, truants or from dysfunctional families — a category that often included unmarried mothers...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has asked the president of the Irish bishops' conference and the archbishop of Dublin to come to the Vatican to discuss "the painful situation of the church in Ireland" following a report detailing the church's failures in addressing clerical sexual abuse. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope's meeting with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish bishops' conference, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin would take place Dec. 11. The spokesman said the meeting would include the nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and the heads...

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 12, 2009 / 11:29 am (CNA).- Irish Catholics can expect "major reorganization" within the Church following the meeting between the Pope and Irish prelates on Friday regarding child sexual abuses by clergy in the Archdiocese of Dublin, according to an article published in the Irish Times. It is not yet known how far reaching these structural changes will be. Archbishop of Armagh Sean Cardinal Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin attended a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, papal nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, and other leaders from Vatican dicasteries to voice concerns and discuss solutions...

In 1922, the Vatican promulgated an instruction to do with what it called crimen solicitationis (the crime of solicitation within the confessional) and what it called the ‘‘worst crime’’ - the sexual abuse of children. The document was issued in Latin. No authoritative version was produced in English. The document was circulated only to bishops and under terms of strict secrecy. A new version of the guidelines was produced in 1962, but this, according to the Murphy Commission, was unknown within the Dublin diocese until some time in the 1990s. Desmond Connell, the former archbishop, told the commission he had...