It was an unprecedented event in Catholic history. Pope Benedict XVI summoned the entire hierarchy of the Church in Ireland to Rome this week and publicly rebuked them. The sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy was “a heinous crime and grave sin”, he told them. In a statement afterwards, the Vatican made clear it was the Pope’s view that there was no doubt “that errors of judgement and omissions stand at the heart of the crisis”. In other words, it was the bishops’ fault. As inquiry after inquiry has revealed, they consistently covered up the activities of abusive priests to protect the Church’s good name from scandal. The result is a scandal 1,000 times worse, from which the Church in Ireland may never recover.

The one group missing from the dramatic events in the Vatican were the victims, and they ought now to be brought centre stage. They, too, should be invited to meet the Pope, but not just for spiritual consolation. They are owed an apology, and not only on behalf of the Irish hierarchy. The Pope appoints bishops, supervises their ministry, and can discipline them when they err. The hierarchy’s failure is therefore, at one short remove, the papacy’s failure too. Indeed, the crucial link between them, the nunciature in Dublin, has some sharp questions to answer for itself. The present nuncio’s repeated refusal to cooperate with government or parliamentary agencies investigating clerical child abuse is unacceptable.

These Aegean stables must not only be cleansed but be seen to be cleansed, and if that means further resignations, then so be it. There is also need for an affirmation of the Pope’s full confidence in Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, who is under attack by some Irish bishops and clergy for the outspoken line he has taken. If there is one man who can lead Irish Catholicism out of this hideous morass, it is he. Archbishop Martin understands that the root cause of the ...

Collisions between immovable objects and unstoppable forces are never pretty, as the Church of England seems anxious to demonstrate. Its General Synod heard a desperate plea this week from Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to pull back from the confrontation over the ordination of women bishops that could see the Church fragmenting into at least three components. These three – Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical ...

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales did not experience first-hand the super-heated reaction of the mass media, whether accurately reflecting public opinion or not, to Pope Benedict’s attack on the “unjust” consequences of British anti-discrimination legislation. For they were in the room with him when he said it, at the end of their routine ad limina visit to the Vatican.

Aggressively ...

Recent developments in the Catholic Church have sparked fears of an imminent counter-revolution against the Second Vatican Council. Anxiety is mainly focused on the new translation of the Mass into English but also on a more fundamental call by the papal master of ceremonies, Mgr Guido Marini, for a “renewal of the renewal” which would entail the recasting of the entire Latin liturgy. But is Vatican II ...

The earthquake that hit Haiti a week ago is a catastrophe of biblical proportions. The people of Haiti were already among the poorest on the planet – apart from the one per cent who owns half the nation’s wealth. The death toll from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake may reach 200,000 or more, and most victims were crushed by falling buildings. This is itself a mark of extreme poverty – it is estimated ...