The crisis surrounding the sexual abuse of children by priests has been used, particularly in the United States, to raise a hue and cry against homosexuality among the clergy. The fault, in other words, was too much tolerance. This illiberal scapegoating has enabled some conservative church leaders to divert attention from deeper structural and cultural problems that led not just to the abuse itself but to the scandal of the many notorious cover-ups by senior church officials. These often left abusers free to continue their abuse and do even more damage to young people. The story of the Dublin Archdiocese, laid bare before Christmas by an Irish government inquiry, is but the latest to dishonour the Church’s reputation. The resignation of the bishops concerned is only the beginning of the reckoning.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, a former papal diplomat, is emerging as one of the few heroes of this sorry affair. He chose Fr Timothy Radcliffe, former Master of the Dominicans, to grasp the real nettle behind the sex-abuse crisis, which is not about homosexuality but about the pervasive culture of clericalism in the Catholic Church. Invited by Archbishop Martin just before Christmas to address the clergy of Dublin Archdiocese, who were still stunned by the disclosures of the inquiry, Fr Radcliffe went straight to the point. Clericalism put priests on pedestals where they were untouchable (and bishops even more so), from which great height they proceeded to load the people with burdens they could not bear – often to do with sexual morality.

“Unlike the Pharisees,” he said, “the yoke of Jesus is light. If we think about our beloved Church in recent centuries, we do seem to have been more like Pharisees, laying heavy burdens on the shoulders of the people. Often this has been associated with sexual behaviour. We have told families with large numbers of children that no contraception is permitted, and young people who cannot afford ...

The first decade of the new century was marked at its beginning and its end by world-changing ­catastrophes, the sort of events that can make talk of Christian hope sound like pious escapism. The four-fold attacks of 11 September 2001, known collectively from the American dating as “9/11”, were a startling demonstration that international jihadism – organised terrorism aimed at overthrowing Western ...

Bernard Longley’s enthronement as Archbishop of Birmingham in St Chad’s Cathedral in that city on Tuesday, marks the start of a liturgical year that could prove momentous. His appointment, coming so soon after that of Archbishop Vincent Nichols to Westminster, marks the arrival at the top of what might be called the Vatican II generation – men whose formation years were entirely spent after the council. ...

The Irish Government’s official report into the handling of child-abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Dublin has shone a shaft of light into some very dark corners. It is to the credit of the current archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, that it was only able to do so because he adopted a policy of total cooperation and transparency, searingly painful though the results have been. It is clear from the report that what motivated ...

The recent ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and first steps towards its implementation were a major step forward in the development of the European Union. And what is good for the EU should be good for Britain. But where were the celebrations, the rousing speeches from politicians, the multi-page supplements in the newspapers, the hour-long documentaries on television? Instead, Britain greeted this landmark event ...