(Thumbnail image: Osservatore Romano)
"Irish bishops are in Rome to discuss their Church's handling of widespread sex abuse by priests. Last November, the Murphy commission found the Church had obsessively hidden child abuse from 1975 to 2004 and had been more concerned with safeguarding its reputation than protecting children." (France 24)
Pope Benedict XVI has called a summit with Irish bishops to address the latest sex abuse scandal to rock the Catholic Church. But depite the effort to address the issue, many wonder whether the Vatican can do enough to regain the trust of its followers.
CBC News reports that the meeting is, and has to be, much more than just a PR exercise.
"There's no question that there are going to be members of the Church whose heads are going to roll. Now, four bishops have already offered to resign.. it is likely that more bishops will decide to step down or will be called to step down."
A correspondent for BBC News says the Catholic Church should remember its problems in the United States from two years ago.
"Some dioces in places like Washington, Arizona, and California have gone into bankruptcy as the claims for compensation have poured in. No one in the Irish Church is yet talking about money, but it will be one of the prices the Church pays as it tries to restore faith among its disenchanted followers."
The Irish Times quoted a former Jesuit provincial who says the Catholic Church needs to completely rethink its power structure.
"One gets the sense that we are at a watershed moment in Irish Catholicism, with repercussions for Catholicism worldwide. There is an institutional dysfunctionality at the heart of our church which goes beyond any simple notion of governance or management reform and which needs to be tackled.”
Do you think trust in the Catholic Church can be salvaged?
Writer: Tracy Pfeiffer
Producer: Newsy Staff
