WikiLeaks: Sex Abuse Panel "Offended" Vatican

Pope Benedict XVI uses a handkerchief during a canonization ceremony at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2009.

/ AP Photo

Vatican officials were angry when their fellow priests were summoned from Rome to testify before an Irish commission investigating allegations of priests abusing children.

In a cable to Washington, U.S. diplomats wrote that requests from the commission to the church "offended many in the Vatican," the Guardian newspaper of London reported Friday evening.

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The disclosure comes from the trove of secret State Department cables released to a number of news outlets by the document-dumping website WikiLeaks.

Without much cooperation from the Vatican, the commission eventually concluded some bishops attempted to cover up incidents of abuse. Between 1975 and 2004, 320 people complained of child sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese, according to the commission's report.

In the cable about the controversy, U.S. diplomats wrote that Vatican officials felt that Irish opposition politicians wanted to make political gains from the investigation, the Guardian reported. Vatican officials felt that the Irish government "failed to respect and protect Vatican sovereignty during the investigations," the cable says.

While the Irish government eventually granted Vatican officials immunity from testifying, a deputy to Noel Fahey, the Irish ambassador to the Holy See, felt that ignoring the commission only made things worse for the Vatican, the Guardian reported.

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[formrusmcsgt]

by hamsterattack December 11, 2010 1:38 PM EST
i'm not religious but if i was i'd attend a lutheran church.
---
I'm an atheist.

But if I were not, I'd be a Rastafarian. At least the Rasty's have Reggae and herb.

A better regimen than any other dogma....

[formrusmcsgt]

Vatican officials felt that the Irish government "failed to respect and protect Vatican sovereignty during the investigations," the cable says.
-----

Vatican officials think that the Vatican is in a position to criticize others for failing to "respect and protect"?

What gaul. What unmitigated gaul.

Only a total idiot could take that comment as having any legitimacy whatsoever.

[formrusmcsgt]

by AttentionDeficit December 12, 2010 6:18 AM EST
When I was much younger, there was a cartoon in what was euphemistically called a "men's magazine" that showed a character named Chester The Molester. He looked much like the pope. A prophesy fulfilled, perhaps?
----
I remember Chester.

What we never imagined back then was that he could have had an entire conspiracy network that would have helped him find victims and get away scot-free if he'd only wear midevil costumes and funny cones on his head.

[formrusmcsgt]

Religion is an escape mechanism for the less courageous among us who can't face the fact that they will die and rot like every other organism on the planet.

And a haven for hypocrits, pedophiles, and snake oil salesman as well.

[hamsterattack]

you go to any catholic church on any given sunday in america nowadays and all you see are empty pews. the catholic church is dying, and deservedly so.
i'm not religious but if i was i'd attend a lutheran church.

[VA_Jill]

How too bad! If they hadn't done wrong there wouldn't have had to be investigations. I'm just so, SO sorry their little feelings were hurt. It looks to me like nobody's sorry for what they did, just that they got caught.

[nfission]

When will the Catholic church ever come out of the Dark Ages and catch up with the rest of the world? Are those period costumes that they wear?
BTW: These men believe that they do not have to obey modern day laws of sex abuse__that they are immune or except because they belong to some ancient "religulous" (Bill Mahar)crap. There are so many men in this world who believe they are above the law when it comes to women and children. That's because they are taught that women and children are here at their disposal.

[tbird6740]

"There are so many men in this world who believe they are above the law when it comes to women and children. That's because they are taught that women and children are here at their disposal."
The unspoken creed of the IFB.

[lilbear925]

It is laughable that the "holier than thou" guys in the Vatican got upset when their sexual escapades with children came to light, yet they do little or nothing to rectify that problem -- other than move offending priests to fresher fields. I totally agree with Ireland in calling these hypocritical scoundrels on the carpet to account for their actions -- or lack of same.

[culturechang]

I have not heard anymore about the guy's "sex crimes" in Sweden. Can we now recognize that a condom rupture, duing conensual sex with an adult, is not as big a deal as molesting children in the name of religion?

[culturechang]

Yes, how dare they be held accountabble for molesting children.