VICTIM REACTION:ABUSE VICTIM Andrew Madden has said he is dismayed at the failure of Pope Benedict XVI to respond to an open letter sent to him before this week's meetings with the Irish bishops.
The letter urged the pope to accept the resignation of three bishops who offered to quit following publication of the Murphy report. Mr Madden and other members of One in Four will meet Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin tomorrow to discuss the meeting between the pope and the bishops.
Abuse survivor and Catholic priest Fr Paddy McCafferty said he understood the “pain and disappointment” of fellow survivors on the outcome of the meeting, but he cautioned that it was a “work in progress”, as other bishops had said.
He said the seriousness of covering up child abuse might not become fully apparent until bishops found to have protected abusers were jailed.
Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said the failure of the pope to acknowledge a cover-up had taken place showed neither he nor bishops “get it even yet”.
RONAN McGREEVY