Ratzi distressed over Ryan report

Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin met with the Pope yesterday to discuss the Ryan report. The Irish Times reports that Ratzi was distressed.

POPE BENEDICT XVI showed his distress at the Ryan report on child abuse at religious institutions in Ireland during a half-hour meeting in the Vatican yesterday evening with Archbishop of Armagh Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin.

Asked what had most disturbed the pope in the Ryan report, Archbishop Martin replied: “This is a different case from many others because it is about the institutionalisation of a problem.”

However, there was no comment from the pope or his officials last night. The Vatican has refrained from making any comment on the Ryan report, with official spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi commenting merely that this was “a matter for the local church”.

It is a matter for the local church. Jail the rapists and torturers. Publish the names. Let no criminal, living or dead, hide in the cloak of anonymity. Then disband the congregations and remove schools from the hands of religious management.

Anyway, I find it interesting abhorrent that what disturbed the Pope was not the rape and torture of children; nor was it the vicious violence and hatred acted out on the bodies of children. What disturbed the Pope was that this case, the Irish case, was different from the other cases of sexual abuse and rape of children by members of the clergy all over the world.

Way to miss the point Ratzi

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