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Rift Grows Between Ireland, Vatican Over Priest Abuse Allegations
The breach between the Vatican and Ireland grew even wider Monday when the Vatican recalled its Ambassador to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza. Ray Suarez discusses the growing division over the handling of sexual-abuse claims with RTE's Richard Downes.
RAY SUAREZ: In the Cloyne report, a senior cleric notes that he realized what a problem the church in Ireland had when he started to read reports about the priestly abuse in Canada, in the United States, in Australia. And it struck him that these were Irish-ordained, Irish-born priests. So there is a connection to the scandal in the rest of the world?
RICHARD DOWNES: Absolutely. There's a connection to the scandal here in the United States. Recently, my own television station had a long documentary about priests and alleged abuse in Africa. Of course, many Irish priests went abroad.
We produced a massive surplus of priests of Christian Brothers, of brothers, of nuns, who many, of course, it should be said, went and did great work abroad. But, of course, we exported a type of Catholicism that for whatever reason -- and that hasn't been really clarified yet -- created this kind of sexual abuse monster.
And it happened in the United States. It happened in Canada. It happened in Australia. It happened in New Zealand. It's very familiar. The names are Irish. The modus operandi of the abusers involved was exactly the same, whether it was Galway, Cloyne, New Zealand, or the United States.
So it was something that we did and something that happened out of Ireland, if you like, that came out of Ireland, which is undeniable and very recognizable.
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