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POPE FRANCIS HAS told Ireland’s bishops that the way in which the Catholic Church confronts abuse “can offer an example and a warning to society as a whole”.
His remarks, in a meeting with the senior clerics at the Dominican Convent in Cabra, followed this afternoon’s Phoenix Park Mass, where the pope asked the congregation for forgiveness for abuse by the clergy and other Church members.
In those earlier remarks, he asked for forgiveness for the times that the Church did not show survivors of abuse “compassion and the seeking of justice and truth through concrete actions”.
Speaking to the bishops, he said that the Church needed to acknowledge and remedy with evangelical honesty and courage its past failures with regard to the protection of children and other vulnerable groups.
“In recent years, you as a body have resolutely moved forward, not only by undertaking paths of purification and reconciliation with victims of abuse, but also with the help of the National Board for Safeguarding of Children in the Church in Ireland, by establishing a stringent set of norms aimed at ensuring the safety of young persons.
“In these years, all of us have had our eyes opened to the gravity and extent of sexual abuse in various social settings.
“In Ireland, as elsewhere, the honesty and integrity with which the Church chooses to confront this painful chapter of her history can offer an example and a warning to society as a whole.”
The pope’s remarks were distributed to the press in advance of his meeting with the bishops this evening.
He addressed a range of other subjects at the convent meeting, where he also praised the bishops for “the concern you show the poor, the excluded and those in need of a helping hand”.
Around 130,000 attended the Phoenix Park for this afternoon’s Mass. In Dublin city centre, a demonstration in support of abuse survivors was held at the same time.
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Every article is becoming repetitive a politician who hasn’t given a shite all year is suddenly outraged by something or other it’s almost as if there is a election on the horizon.
Denis Naughton has been trying to fix loopholes that sex offenders can take advantage of for over 2 years but he won’t get credit because he voted against Enda Kenny in the leadership battle & eventually left fg. He seems a decent politician.
Hi John,
The only person to believe there are any loopholes in the current legislation is Mr. Naughten himself. He is attempting to further his political career by going after those who are hated by the majority of people.
There are no loopholes in the laws, Ireland has some of the most robust sexual offender laws in the world.
Never mind, we’re getting calorie counts on beer bottles. Can’t have everything you know.
It’s obvious to me that Denis Naughten (whoever he is) cares greatly about this..otherwise he would have said nothing and I would continue to be blissfully unaware of his existence.
Just chop their danglers off then it won’t matter as much where they are.
You can’t… They have human rights! Which is strange as I don’t regard them as human
But what if they’re an 18 year old rapist?
why are they only following the ones with both hands tied,it’s the ones without there hands tied we should be worried about……
Castration for more than 2 offences.
No lock up for life
“A new report says that 18 registered sex offenders are living within walking distance of schools in Cork”.
Not all sex offenders are paedophiles.
But some probably are
Beat me to it.
Look at the case of that girl who’s brother saved her
Why beside schools???
What about the sex offenders from the U.K. who are hiding here at the moment as well?
Hi Michael,
All current research shows that where someone lives has absolutely zero affect on either their rate of risk, or rate of re-offense. Restricting where people live actually has the opposite affect, and leads to increased risk.
Anyone subject to those laws in the UK become subject to the same in Ireland. Do you think an arbitrary change in the time will force offenders to comply?
I was referring to sex offenders who are here to escape the U.K. Police as in recent years the amount of news stories about this has been staggering, I was not blaming anyone lol.
Natanael, no way was I blaming any country as there are plenty of pedos here, I used the point to highlight the fact that criminals can cross into any country to escape their own police service normally to continue in their crime. My way to highlight an important point that seems missed in my view, I do that with other posts as well lol.
Mr. Naughten seems to want to further his political career on the back of sexual offenders – a very easy target. He talks on the subject without actually giving any factual evidence or information. For example, it has been shown that were an offender lives has absolutely no connection either with their level of risk or rate of recidivism. According to The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from a report of July 2015, the rate of recidivism for sexual offenders is less than 1%.
There are no loopholes within the monitoring of sexual offenders within Ireland. Ireland has one of the most robust systems in the entire world for dealing with this issue. On Mr. Naughtens point about “roam around the country for six days”, for an offender to comply with the current legislation they would have to stay at 60 different addresses within a one year period.
There are only a very limited number of countries in the world which even have sex offender registry. There have been zero documented cases where any form of sex offender registry has done anything positive for child protection, stopped any sexual crime, or reduced the already extremely low rate of re-offense.
Mr. Naughten would want to read up on all current research on the subject.
I dont think anyone has any issue with increased monitoring of high risk sex offenders, anything that keeps people safe is beneficial. But lets do whats right not just what makes the press happy. A sex offender living in a house or apartment overlooking a school is not right….but what difference does it make if they are living within 500 yards of a school or 50 miles? It makes NO difference at all! A sex offender who is motivated to offend isnt going to let distance stop him or her…they will hop on a bus or walk a few extra 100 yards. Not that there has ever ( as far as im aware ) been a case in Ireland where a stranger has entered a school and molested a child.
I think that sometimes the laws are changed to give the appearance of something being done rather than actually making a change. It wont cost the government anything to prevent sex offenders from living within half a mile of a school…so lets do it to make it appear that they are being tough on this crime. Even though it wont make the slightest bit of difference to the safety of our children. Whereas it WOULD cost a lot more money to provide the resources and extra gaurds to monitor high risk offenders which would make a difference.
The bottom line is that kids and women need to be protected. Let our politicians know that we want them to make laws that will actually have a positive effect, and not just pay lip service to it.
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