The Vatican has denied that it undermined the Irish bishops’ efforts to protect children from sexual abuse and described as “unfounded” claims that it tried to interfere in government investigations regarding the Church’s handling of sex abuse cases.

The Vatican recognises “the seriousness of the crimes” detailed in a government report about cases in the Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland, and “has sought to respond comprehensively”, said a communique released by the Vatican today.

The communique accompanied a 19-page formal response to the Irish government’s Cloyne Report on the diocese and to statements made by the Irish prime minister and motions passed by both houses of the Irish parliament concerning the report and the Vatican’s involvement in how cases were handled.

The Vatican said the report “brought to light very serious and disturbing failings in the handling of accusations of sexual abuse by children and young people by clerics in the Diocese of Cloyne” but it said the local bishop and his vicar general were to blame.

The formal “Response of the Holy See” was hand-delivered today by Mgr Ettore Balestrero, undersecretary for relations with states, to Helena Keleher, charge d’affaires at the Irish Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, the Vatican said.

The Irish government’s Cloyne Report was issued on July 13 and said then Bishop John Magee of Cloyne paid “little or no attention” to safeguarding children as recently as 2008. But the report also accused the Vatican of being “entirely unhelpful” to Irish bishops who wanted to implement stronger norms for dealing with accusations and protecting children.

Addressing Parliament on July 20, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said the Cloyne Report “exposes an attempt by the Holy See to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago”.

“And in doing so, the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day,” the prime minister said.

A few days later, the Vatican took the unusual move of recalling its nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, saying it signaled how seriously the Vatican took the government criticisms and how intent the Vatican was on drafting a comprehensive response to the Cloyne Report and the prime minister’s accusations.

The Vatican’s response was drafted by the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles cases of clerical sex abuse, with input from Archbishop Leanza, and the congregations for clergy and bishops, said Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

“The point of departure,” he said, “is the recognition of the reality of what occurred, the gravity and amount of abuse committed,” and, as the Cloyne Report demonstrated, the “deplorable” lack of serious action on the part of the bishop and diocesan officials, Fr Lombardi said. “The seriousness and importance of these failures is not overlooked.”

The response emphasised three points:

- The Congregation for Clergy’s observations about potential problems in the Irish bishops’ 1996 child protection guidelines did not nullify the guidelines or prevent local bishops from adopting them in their dioceses.

- Church officials, including bishops, are required to follow their nation’s civil laws regarding mandatory reporting of crimes and are free to report crimes to police even when they are not required by law to do so.

- The sexual abuse of children is a crime both in civil law and in church law.

The response began by asserting the Vatican’s “abhorrence for the crimes of sexual abuse” that took place in Cloyne and other dioceses.

“The Holy See is sorry and ashamed for the terrible sufferings which the victims of abuse and their families have had to endure within the church of Jesus Christ, a place where this should never happen,” the response said.

The Vatican also said it “understands and shares the depth of public anger and frustration at the findings of the Cloyne Report”, saying those feelings were reflected in Prime Minister Kenny’s speech, although it did take issue with some points he made.

“In this regard, the Holy See wishes to make it quite clear that it in no way hampered or interfered in the inquiry into child sexual abuse cases in the Diocese of Cloyne. Furthermore, at no stage did it seek to interfere with Irish civil law or impede the civil authority in the exercise of its duties,” the response said.

In fact, it said, the Cloyne Report contains “no evidence to suggest that the Holy See meddled in the internal affairs of the Irish state or, for that matter, was involved in the day-to-day management of Irish dioceses or religious congregations with respect to sexual abuse issues.”

The Vatican said the drafters of the report and the Irish government officials critical of the Vatican misunderstood the Congregation for the Clergy’s observations about the Irish bishops’ 1996 guidelines and they misunderstood the technical nature of what constitutes an official document of a bishops’ conference with Vatican-approved norms binding on all the bishops.

The Irish bishops never asked for formal recognition of the guidelines, so “the Holy See cannot be criticised for failing to grant what was never requested in the first place”, the Vatican said. But, it added, each of the bishops, who have the power to institute norms for their own dioceses, knew they had the authority to adopt the norms for their own dioceses.

“The basic difficulty with regard to child protection” in Cloyne, it said, stemmed not from a lack of formal Vatican recognition of the guidelines, “but from the fact that, while the diocese claimed to follow the guidelines, in reality it did not”.

The Vatican acknowledged the Congregation for Clergy had expressed reservations about mandatory reporting of abuse accusation to police or other civil authorities.

“This response should not be construed as implying that the congregation was forbidding reporting or in any way encouraging individuals, including clerics, not to cooperate with the Irish civil authorities, let alone disobey Irish civil law,” the Vatican said.

“It should be borne in mind that, without ever having to consult the Holy See, every bishop is free to apply the penal measures of canon law to offending priests and has never been impeded under canon law from reporting cases of abuse to the civil authorities,” the Vatican said.

The response also pointed out that at the time the congregation sent its observations to the Irish bishops, the Irish government had just set aside the idea of passing a mandatory reporting law because of serious reservations expressed in several sectors of Irish society. The Catholic bishops’ committee on child protection, however, had testified in favour of mandatory reporting, the Vatican said.

The Vatican response said: “The sexual abuse of children is a crime. It is a crime in civil law; it is a crime in canon law.”

Since 1994, when US bishops formally requested special norms from the Vatican to deal with the sex abuse crisis, the Vatican has made a series of changes to church law and procedure to improve the protection of children and more swiftly remove from the priesthood abuse priests, the response said.

The Vatican said it “welcomes all objective and helpful observations and suggestions to combat with determination the appalling crime of sexual abuse of minors.”

“It also recognises the understandable anger, disappointment and sense of betrayal of those affected – particularly the victims and their families – by these vile and deplorable acts and by the way in which they were sometimes handled by church authorities, and for all of this it wishes to reiterate its sorrow for what happened,” the response said.

The Vatican said it was “confident that the measures which the Church has introduced in recent years at a universal level, as well as in Ireland, will prove more effective in preventing the recurrence of these acts”.
 

Please Pray for Pope Benedict.  He is Under Grave Attack by the Antichrist Forces From Without and Within the Church.

"My children, you will recognize the signs of your times. The evil has accelerated. Satan has poisoned many minds, even in the clergy. It is now the full responsibility of parents to be the leaders, the teachers of their children. Satan has poisoned the minds of many in the clergy and doctrines of demons are being introduced into My House.

     "My children, it is with great sorrow that We look upon the abominations being committed in My houses upon earth. Know now, O bishops, shepherds of My flock, that We look upon you and find you wanting.  You bring about a change, and for what? You were not satisfied with the rules, so now you make rules to suit your own basic carnal nature of man. And what are you doing, but you are reforming My House, and for what?

     "In arrogance and pride you have placed yourself above your God. Believe, and do you believe, O clergy? Shall you stand before Me and say that your teaching has been pure in My sight? I say unto you: I shall spit you out as vermin into the flames! Vipers upon earth you have become. I say unto you: Your days shall be counted in the few.
     "Many of My clergy are on the road to perdition and taking many trusting souls with them." - Jesus, July 25, 1977

The amazing Bayside Prophecies...  https://www.tldm.org/Bayside/default.htm  
These messages came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

THE  MAJOR  OFFENSE
"The major offense being committed in your world is an offense far above any sin committed in such majority in the past. You have committed the great sin of heresy. You have opened the doors of your Eternal City, the home of your Vicar, to all manner of heretics and non-believers." - St. Michael, February 1, 1977 

EXCOMMUNICATE
"Pastors in the houses of your God, you must return from your wanderings and gather your straying sheep. Discipline must be returned. Holiness and piety must be returned. Heresy and heretics must be taken out of Rome! The power of excommunication must be used. You will cleanse the Eternal City now, or you will accept the sword!" - St. Michael, December 27, 1975 

INDOCTRINATED  IN  HERESY
"Your children must be protected from the evils that abound in your school systems in your country and most nations throughout the world. They are being taught immorality and a loss of faith in the supernatural and the knowledge of their God. All manner of heresy has been indoctrinated into their youthful minds. It is a diabolical plan of Lucifer." - Our Lady, June 18, 1979 

SPEAK  OUT
"Many homes shall be torn asunder by the fall of the children. Parents shall shed tears of anguish. Therefore, prevent this now while your children are at a young age. Give them a firm foundation of their faith. Be not afraid to speak out against heresy and abominations, even if you have to do this against your clergy. For many now have fallen in with the modernists, the socialists, the communists, and some the satanists. Therefore, My children, I make known to you the crisis that lies ahead." - Our Lady, June 18, 1979 

HERESY,  APOSTASY  ABOUND
"Because of the arrogance and pride of My clergy, many of Our sheep, Our children, are lost to the Kingdom of Heaven. Many mitres are destined for the abyss. Heresy and apostasy abounds upon earth." - Jesus, June 18, 1979 

MOURNFUL  HERESY
"Heresy, O mournful heresy! Pastors, this shall not be tolerated. You must not destroy Our young flowers, the children. You must nurture them with pure waters of faith. This faith must not be tainted by modernism and humanism. You have set upon the world a confusion of mind and a darkening of spirit." - Our Lady, November 20, 1975 

MUST  NOT  COMPROMISE
"You must not compromise your Faith. You cannot lower your standards and bring others into My Son's Church, for you bring in all manner of heresy and abominations. By your example did you gather Our sheep, and by your example now do you scatter them. I say, as your Mother: Turn back from your road, for you are on the way to perdition." - Our Lady, June 5, 1976 

HERESY  PREVAILS
"Each man shall be accountable for his own soul. You shall not allow heresy to prevail in My House! You shall not permit the corruption and destruction of the young souls with error, fallacy, and heresy! You shall not, in the name of technology and science, corrupt the teachings given to you by those who came before you, sent by the Eternal Father to enlighten you on the path and the way to your Kingdom, the Kingdom of your God in Heaven!" - Jesus, February 10, 1976 

HELL-HOLES  OF  HERESY
"Can you, O bishops, not spare but the little time to look into your seminaries? I say but one expression to you: they have become hell-holes of error and heresy! Clean out your seminaries, My bishops! My Son will lay upon you a heavy hand in penance! Is this what you want? Do you not have the courage of your convictions to stand by the truth of your Faith? Have you given yourselves to such foul sin, O bishops, in your personal lives that you do no longer recognize sin as being a way of life? Are you also condoning sin to become a way of life?" - Our Lady, October 2, 1976 

HERESY  IN  THE  CLASSROOMS
"And what are they teaching in the classrooms? Oh,  my sister, you must tell the world—all the children of earth, of the Eternal Father—that they are teaching heresy! Oh, that's untruth. Satan is deluding many and poisoning their minds. Heresy, O mournful heresy!" - St. Theresa, May 17, 1975 

LEGACY  OF  TRUTH
"I recognized, my child, the evils that were to fall upon the world. Search for the knowledge I have left to you. I, too, was enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Read well the legacy of truth* that I left to you. Modernism must be erased from your world!" - Pope St. Pius X, September 7, 1974

* Read especially the famous encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (The Doctrine of the Modernists) by Pope St. Pius X.  

MANY  REBEL
"Many clergy have given themselves over to pleasures of the flesh. Many have fallen into sin and heresy, and have cast aside the truth of their vocations. Many now rebel against their leader, their God-given leader, your Vicar. In matters of faith and morals, man must not change the God-given laws, coming from the Seat of Peter, and established through tradition upon earth through My Son's Church." - Our Lady, October 6, 1979

Directives from Heaven...

D1 - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass  PDF
D85 - Tradition  PDF
D161 - The Great Apostasy PDF
D164 - Heresy PDF
D184 - Church of Man,  Part 1    PDF
D185 - Church of Man,  Part 2   PDF
D186 - Excommunication   PDF 

Articles…

Pope Benedict XVI on the disintegration of the liturgy
https://www.tldm.org/news7/PopeBenedictXVIDisintegrationOfLiturgy.htm

Pope Benedict XVI on life, faith, family and freedom
https://www.tldm.org/News7/PopeBenedictXVIFaith&Family.htm

Pope Benedict XVI on Church after Vatican II: "incontrovertible that this period has definitely been unfavorable for the Church"
https://www.tldm.org/directives/d193.htm

Pope Benedict XVI: the Mass reduced to a show
https://www.tldm.org/News7/PopeBenedictXVIMassReducedToAShow.htm

Pope Benedict XVI on the theology of kneeling
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictXVITheologyOfKneeling.htm

Pope Benedict against Harry Potter: speaks of "subtle seductions" that "deeply affect (children) and corrupt the Christian faith in souls
https://www.tldm.org/News8/Pope%20BenedictAgainstHarryPotter.htm

Pope Benedict stresses necessity to halt cafeteria Catholicism
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictCafeteriaCatholicism.htm

Holy Communion for divorced and remarried undermines Sacrament of Matrimony says Pope Benedict
https://www.tldm.org/News8/Communion&DivorcedPopeBenedict.htm

Vatican says no to homosexuals in priesthood - approved by Pope Benedict
https://www.tldm.org/News8/homosexualityPriesthood3.htm 

Pope Benedict attacks 'hypocritical' secularists: calls those who want to exclude God from public life intolerant
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictAttacksSecularists.htm

Vatican correspondent notes Pope Benedict using "apocalyptic" language
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictApocalypse.htm

Pope Benedict XVI and his support for the Old Mass
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictSupportsOldMass.htm

Pope Benedict spied on by East German Communist Secret Police from 1974
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeBenedictSpiedOn.htm

Pope Benedict to bishops: Don't water down Church teachings
https://www.tldm.org/News8/PopeDon'tWaterDownTeachings.htm