Vatican Used Diplomatic Immunity to Avoid Questions about Child-abuse in Ireland · December 17, 2010
It has been known for quite a while that the Vatican used its diplomatic-immunity status to thwart the Irish independent investigation of sex-abuse by Irish priests. But U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks revealed that the Vatican was “offended” that Ireland failed to respect Holy See “sovereignty” by asking Vatican officials to answer questions from the Irish commission.
The U.S. ambassador to the Vatican “condemned the leaks and said the Vatican and America cooperate in promoting universal values.” That would be Vatican values of course.
One leaked document revealed the complicity of the Irish diplomats in Rome. The cable discussed Ireland’s diplomatic bind. “Ireland wanted to be seen as fully supportive of the independent probe into child-abuse cover-ups in the Dublin Archdiocese,” but the U.S. diplomat reported that the Irish diplomats in Rome decided not to press Vatican officials to respond to questions from the Irish commission. Letters sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Vatican’s ambassador to Ireland seeking information on Vatican officials’ knowledge of cover-ups, were not answered.
The leaked cables revealed that “the investigators’ letters ‘offended many in the Vatican’ because they were viewed as ‘an affront to Vatican sovereignty.’”
Critics say that “the Vatican was concerned only about protecting itself, not about admitting the truth.” The Vatican was only concerned that the Irish government had failed to protect the Vatican from intrusive questions.
“Self-interest ruled the day when their priests were raping children,” said Andrew Madden, a former altar boy who was molested by a Dublin priest.
Read more at www.ktfministry.org
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