Pope lands in Ireland amid priest abuse scandal

Pope Francis has arrived in Ireland on the first papal visit to the majority Roman Catholic nation for almost 40 years amid one of the worst sexual abuse scandals the Church has yet faced. The 81-year-old Pontiff will meet President Michael Higgins and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar during the two-day visit, that falls just a few days after the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing decades of clerical pedophilia and coverups. The Pope will also find Ireland a very different country to the one visited by John Paul II in 1979. The seismic social changes in Ireland over recent years are best symbolized by the election last year of Varadkar, who is gay, and the referendum three months ago that legalized abortion.

http://www.abc57.com/news/pope-lands-in-ireland-amid-priest-abuse-scanda 

Pope says 'outrage' justified over Irish Church abuse

Pope Francis spoke during his visit to Ireland Saturday of his shame over the "appalling crimes" of historic child abuse in the Catholic Church and said outrage was justified. However, he failed to specifically mention the current scandal raging over a US grand jury report documenting at least 1,000 cases of clerical pedophilia. "The failure of ecclesiastical authorities -- bishops, religious superiors, priests and others -- adequately to address these appalling crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community. I myself share those sentiments," the Pope said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/25/europe/pope-francis-ireland-visit-intl/index.html 

The Latest: Irish adoptee demands apology from Catholic nuns

DUBLIN (AP) — The Latest on Pope Francis' trip to Ireland (all times local): 8:20 p.m. Some of the Irish victims who met with Pope Francis are children who were forced to be adopted because they were born to single mothers or lived in Ireland's notorious "mother and baby homes." In a statement Saturday, they said they urged the pope to publicly state that their mothers had done nothing wrong and to encourage reconciliation between them. They said the pope apologized on behalf of the church.

https://www.chieftain.com/news/the-latest-pope-speaks-to-irish-minister-about-tuam-babies/article_1c0debdb-c03b-5cf8-9902-853bb817605f.html 

Pope speaks of shame over 'appalling crimes' of child abuse in Catholic Church

Pope Francis has spoken during his visit to Ireland of his shame over the "appalling crimes" of historic child abuse in the Catholic Church and said outrage was justified. However, he failed to specifically mention the current scandal raging over a US grand jury report documenting at least 1,000 cases of clerical pedophilia. Speaking to a hall in Dublin Castle packed with hundreds of political and religious dignitaries and foreign diplomats, Pope Francis said on Saturday "the failure of ecclesiastical authorities -- bishops, religious superiors, priests and others -- adequately to address these appalling crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community. I myself share those sentiments."

https://www.nbc26.com/news/world/pope-speaks-of-shame-over-appalling-crimes-of-child-abuse-in-catholic-church

Pope says 'outrage' justified over Irish Church abuse

Pope Francis spoke during his visit to Ireland Saturday of his shame over the "appalling crimes" of historic child abuse in the Catholic Church and said outrage was justified. However, he failed to specifically mention the current scandal raging over a US grand jury report documenting at least 1,000 cases of clerical pedophilia.

https://www.keyt.com/news/pope-francis-visits-ireland-amid-priest-abuse-firestorm/786062258 

In Ireland, Pope Francis meets with Catholic Church sex abuse survivors

Pope Francis, on the first papal visit to Ireland Saturday in almost four decades, expressed "outrage" Saturday over the Catholic Church's cover-up of sex abuse and later met with eight survivors of what the Vatican called "clerical, religious and institutional abuse." Ireland is ground zero of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis, with the institution under fire across the globe for its systemic failures to protect children or to punish bishops who hid the crimes.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/08/25/pope-francis-ireland-visit-sex-abuse-scandals/1096319002/ 

The Latest: Pope gets lukewarm reception in Ireland

DUBLIN — The Latest on Pope Francis’ trip to Ireland (all times local): 11 p.m. Pope Francis is facing a lukewarm reception and scattered protests on his trip to Ireland. Even his vow to rid the church of the “scourge” has been dismissed as a disappointment by some of Ireland’s wounded victims. But others who met with him in private say they’re heartened that he would respond to their plight, including two of the thousands of children who were forcibly put up for adoption for the shame of having been born to unwed mothers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-latest-francis-departs-for-1st-papal-trip-to-ireland/2018/08/25/7f97ba78-a837-11e8-ad6f-080770dcddc2_story.html?utm_term=.73b92644ecd0 

Vatican condemns 'predator priests' in Penn. grand jury report

The Vatican on Thursday said the systematic coverup of sexual abuse at several Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania is "criminally and morally reprehensible." The director of the Vatican's Press Office, Greg Burke, issued a statement saying the Catholic Church takes the grand jury's investigation seriously and "condemns unequivocally" the sexual abuse of minors.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/08/16/Vatican-condemns-predator-priests-in-Penn-grand-jury-report/3381534453328/?st_rec=5501535039412 

Nuns Arrested After Years Of Alleged Physical And Sexual Abuse At Orphanage

Eleven nuns were among the 12 people who were arrested and charged on Thursday for years of alleged physical and sexual abuse against children at a Catholic orphanage in Scotland. “Twelve people, 11 women and one man, ages ranging from 62 to 85 years, have been arrested and charged in connection with the non-recent abuse of children. All are subject of reports to (the) Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal. A further four individuals will be reported today. Inquiries are continuing, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” a spokesperson from Police Scotland, the national police force of Scotland, said, according to The Guardian.

https://www.newsweek.com/nuns-arrested-after-years-alleged-physical-and-sexual-abuse-orphanage-1088564 

Nuns charged in Smyllum Park child abuse investigation

Police examining claims of abuse over decades at Catholic home charge 12 people. Police in Scotland have arrested and charged nuns and a number of other former staff in an investigation into alleged child abuse at a Catholic children’s home. The nuns are among 12 people who have been charged by detectives investigating detailed allegations of systematic physical and sexual abuse of children over many decades at Smyllum Park in Lanark.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/23/nuns-charged-in-investigation-into-child-abuse-at-smyllum-park 

Pope up against Vatican power, says Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

With less than a week to go to the papal visit, one of the leaders of the Catholic Church in Ireland has defended the Pope’s record of dealing with clerical child abuse, saying Francis is up against the might of the Vatican. However, Diarmuid Martin, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, said he expects Pope Francis will “speak quite strongly” in relation to clerical sex abuse when he arrives in Ireland next Saturday for the World Meeting of Families. Saying sorry was not enough, he said in a homily delivered at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, adding that the “structures that permit or facilitate abuse must be broken down and broken down forever”.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/pope-up-against-vatican-power-saysarchbishop-diarmuid-martin-863207.html 

Pennsylvania AG says cardinal "not telling the truth" about abuse scandal

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro told CNN on Sunday that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, has lied to defend himself after a shocking grand jury report detailed decades of systemic sexual abuse by hundreds of Catholic priests in the state. "Cardinal Wuerl is not telling the truth. Many of his statements in response to the Grand Jury Report are directly contradicted by the Church's own documents and records from their Secret Archives. Offering misleading statements now only furthers the cover up."

https://www.axios.com/pennsylvania-catholic-church-abuse-cardinal-wuerl-5ed2b841-8282-4880-8aeb-79775a04fdac.html