To be fair to Kenny and Gilmore, they are taking a much tougher line with the Vatican than I expected. Usually politicians will just avoid strong language but listening to the two of them yesterday, there is little doubt as to how annoyed the government is. I agree it is time to cut all diplomatic ties with the Vatican. They have themselves to be as morally corrupt as some of the so called rogue states.
Agreed. The language out of gov't is forthright & robust, and it should be followed up by fairly serious action. I'm not Unionist, but strangely find myself agreeing with their age-old complaint of Rome-rule.
The shock to Irish society by this awful evil is really unprecedented. Who would ever have thought we'd see the day that a senior politician like Charlie Flanagan would call for the expulsion of the Nuncio?
The impact of abuse is horrendous. Reading the statements of the alleged victims in the Cloyne report is heart-breaking. It has destroyed and warped their lives. We also know from other reports that suicide wasn't uncommon. In the rush to protect the church from "scandal" some priests and bishops have left these people out to dry and in so-doing, abused them again.
Imo the church's warped attitude to human sexuality is a huge part of the problem. It's no wonder that this has become it's achilles heel. There has been a misinformed view that homosexuality is directly linked to abuse, but this is wrong. Firstly not all the abused are boys, and homosexuality & child abuse are very different. Finding children attractive is a disorder of human sexuality. But surely this isn't a surprise in the church given it's horror at almost any sexual expression. What isn't acknowledged and accepted by the church is driven into the dark, and this is where it becomes the warped thing that we see in child sexual abuse, at least in my view.