At the press conference in Rome's Irish College, after the bishops' general audience with the pope last Saturday, the Bishop of Meath, Dr Michael Smith, said the fullest discussion on the clerical child sex abuse issue had taken place on Thursday last when all the bishops met the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has taken responsibility for dealing with the subject.
It had been "an open, encouraging meeting", he said. Cardinal Levada, prefect of the congregation, "had first-hand experience [ of dealing with the issue] from his time in San Francisco", he said. Cardinal Levada is a former archbishop of San Francisco.
Bishop Smith also said that required adjustments would be made to the Irish Catholic Church's child protection policy, as outlined in their document Our Children, Our Church, which has run into difficulties with the authorities in the North and is being investigated in the Republic at the request of the Department of Children.
Bishop Patrick Walsh used the word "simpatico" to convey his impression of the pope's "warm and open" demeanour during his audiences with the Irish bishops.
He had been "very, very encouraging". Conversation "flowed very easily", with the pope listening mainly.
Bishop Smith said the pope "is a fluent English speaker" who was "very concerned to put the bishops at their ease".
There was "great sympathy" in general, Bishop Smith said, adding that the pope had "very warm words of greeting for Cardinal [Desmond] Connell as well". The cardinal, Bishop Smith commented, had "carried an enormous burden" as archbishop of Dublin.
On the request that St Columbanus be appointed a co-patron of Europe, Bishop Smith recalled that "Pope John XXIII described him [Columbanus] as one of the real founders of Europe".
