The long fight for justice
From the moment I saw the headline “When saying sorry is not enough” (7 May) to the last full stop, I was struck by parallels between the responses of the authorities to the terrible events at Hillsborough and those of popes and bishops to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The denials, the obfuscation, the wilful blindness, blaming of the victim, doing too little too late (often only undertaken unwillingly as a result of civil court directives), the hollow apologies, refusal to listen to victims and families; the fight, the fight, the fight, not yet won, of “ordinary people”, victims and families, for truth and justice. The Catholic hierarchy has a very long way to go to make amends by naming their own sins, making reparation to victims and families and by changing the system that allows abuse to flourish, and to win back all those who have seen their only option as to vote with their feet.

Having visited Hillsborough, could the Holy Spirit now please visit the Vatican?