FINE GAEL REACTION:THE FAILURE of the papal nuncio and the Vatican to co-operate with the Murphy commission should have been addressed in yesterday's statement from the Vatican, according to Fine Gael's front bench spokesman on children.
Following the conclusion of the meeting between Pope Benedict and the Irish bishops, Alan Shatter said it was “regrettable” that the press release did not refer to the failure of the papal nuncio and the Vatican to co-operate with the Murphy commission’s investigation.
Mr Shatter reiterated his belief that the papal nuncio’s letter to the chairman of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, in which he refused to meet with it, remained “deeply regrettable”.
“I am repeating my call on the Vatican and the Irish hierarchy to bring about a change of attitude and to engage in constructive transparent dialogue with regard to the manner in which the church has dealt with the issue of clerical child abuse, and the failure of the Vatican to provide assistance to the Murphy commission when it was sought,” Mr Shatter said.
In a letter to committee chairman Dr Michael Woods dated February 12th, the papal nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, declined an invitation to appear in front of the committee, saying it was “not the practice of the Holy See that apostolic nuncios appear before parliamentary commissions”.