DUBLIN – Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has told priests that the Vatican has rejected the resignations of his two auxiliary bishops after their reported involvement in the Catholic Church’s cover-up.
The Vatican’s rebuff deals a blow to Martin, a veteran Vatican diplomat who was appointed in 2004 to lead Ireland’s most populous diocese through a growing storm of scandals.
From the start he has clashed with predecessors who oversaw a culture of concealment of child molestation by transferring abusive priests to new parishes in Ireland, Britain and the United States.
“Following the presentation of their resignations to Pope Benedict, it has been decided that Bishop Eamonn Walsh and Bishop Raymond Field will remain as auxiliary bishops,” Martin said in a letter sent this week to priests and other Dublin church officials.
Aides to Martin confirmed the details of the letter. They said neither Martin nor the two auxiliaries were available to comment on the letter.
The letter said the two auxiliaries would be “assigned revised responsibilities within the diocese”, but offered no specifics. A Vatican spokesman refused to confirm that the resignations had been rejected or to offer reasons why bishops allegedly involved in covering up abuse would be kept on.
An Irish Government-authorised investigation into Dublin Archdiocese cover-ups published in November named more than a dozen bishops as responsible for failing to tell police about more than 170 suspected paedophiles in the priesthood from the 1970s to 1990s.
Martin supported the state investigation by releasing thousands of previously secret church documents that demonstrated detailed church knowledge of crimes committed against several hundred Irish children. It found Dublin church leaders began providing information to police only in 1995 – but continued to keep secret, until Martin’s appointment in 2004, many files and other records of reported abuse.
The Pope did accept the resignations of Donal Murray of Limerick and James Moriarty of Kildare, both of whom were former Dublin auxiliary bishops. A third, Martin Drennan of Galway, has insisted he won’t quit.
Walsh and Field initially rejected criticisms but relented after failing to receive public backing from Martin. Their resignation offers were read out to Dublin worshippers at Christmas Mass.
In March the Pope published a letter to the Irish Catholic people that condemned the abusers and praised their victims – but avoided any acknowledgment of hierarchy culpability in covering up crimes.
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