Archbishop accused of closing ranks
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin defended the Vatican summit
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Tuesday February 16 2010
Victims of clerical abuse have accused Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of closing ranks with senior clergy over the cover-up of paedophile priests.
Victims' groups claimed the Archbishop was reprimanded in Rome when he came face to face with Pope Benedict XVI for speaking out on behalf of survivors in the past.
Maeve Lewis, of One in Four, said people were disappointed the Pontiff would not be acknowledging senior clergy covered up decades of abuse and that pending bishops' resignations may not be accepted.
Ms Lewis felt the bishops were closing ranks and keeping their heads down until the abuse scandal moved off the news agenda.
She said: "Diarmuid Martin in the past was at the forefront in providing real leadership in relation to the sexual abuse of children. Today I felt I was speaking to a very different man from the one we met last Saturday before he travelled to Rome. We asked him if he had been reprimanded in Rome and he denied that he was."
The Archbishop said no member of the clergy in Rome challenged the findings of the Murphy report.
"I do not think I am a different person. I follow my conscience and I do not feel different," he said.
Twenty-four of the country's senior clerics were summoned to Rome to answer questions over the mishandling of sickening child abuse, subsequent investigations and the scandals exposed in the Ryan report into state-run institutions and the Murphy report into cover-ups in the Dublin Archdiocese.
Victims were left furious after Pope Benedict brought the unprecedented two days of talks to a close but did not acknowledge Irish bishops covered up paedophilia among priests. The Pope also did not formally apologise or mention the resignation of bishops.
Press Association
