Ireland has one of the largest Catholic communities in Europe. The Church is rooted into the culture of the country, but when Pope Francis visited Dublin in 2018 his words divided the nation.
Since 2002, multiple reports and investigations have shed light on nearly 15,000 cases of sexual abuse committed in Ireland between 1970 and 1990.
The pontiff had come to apologise for those crimes carried out by members of the Church’s clergy. For many survivors, the visit and remorse that came with it was far too late.
Some 500,000 of the faithful were expected to welcome Pope Francis in Dublin. In the end, only 130,000 took part in an open-air mass, a far cry from the 1 million or so who turned out 40 years earlier for John Paul ll’s visit.
The abuse inflicted by Catholic priests is believed to have led to hundreds of suicides. Those that managed to pick up the pieces and face what happened, have been named 'The Survivors'. (more...)
Sins of the fathers: Ireland’s sex abuse survivors
Because of the abuse, the Church was silent in Ireland during the last two referendums, as a result of rogue clergy,it was as if the Church could no longer speak on morals. The damage these men did to their victims, the Church, and the crountry is horrendous. The fact is paedaphiles will infiltrate anywhere they will be trusted with children, sports, medicine, education,religion, but that so called men of God destroy the innocence of children is particularly horrible.
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