Pope Francis is seen with Irish President Michael D. Higgins, upon his arrival at the Presidential residence in Dublin, Ireland. Peter Morrison / AP Photo 
Pope Francis is seen with Irish President Michael D. Higgins, upon his arrival at the Presidential residence in Dublin, Ireland. Peter Morrison / AP Photo 

Pope urged to tackle Irish church resistance to move on abuse



Pope Francis faced calls on arriving in Ireland to counter resistance within the Catholic Church against tackling clerical sex abuse, including from a member of a group advising him on the crisis.

"There is a need to change the culture in the church. If it's not changed, this is going to continue," Gabriel Dy-Liacco, who sits on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said in Dublin on Friday.

His comments were echoed by Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who resigned in protest last year from the commission that Francis set up in 2014. She urged the Pope to take strong action against the perpetrators and those who protect them, including by removing top clerics if necessary.

Pope Francis began the first papal visit in nearly 40 years to Ireland, a country devastated by clerical abuse, as scandals in several countries mire the Church in its worst credibility crisis in more than 15 years.

A damning report last week into abuse in the US state of Pennsylvania, combined with scandals in Australia and Chile, have formed what one Vatican official called "a perfect storm" not seen since the first abuse crisis erupted in Boston in 2002.

Mr Dy-Liacco said bishops who have been preventing progress on the issue were coming around to accepting the need for action, but the process has been painfully slow.

A psychotherapist from the Philippines, he was speaking after a panel discussion in Dublin on safeguarding children at the Vatican's World Meeting of Families.

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Vatican watchers say most of the resistance has come from some bishops, particularly older ones, who feel they would be judged by today's standards for practices that were common decades ago. These included moving predator priests to other posts or easing them out of the Church quietly to avoid public scandal.

"I think at this point the Pope really needs to face down this resistance. If it means removing people in high office, then that is what he must do," said Mrs Collins, who quit the commission over what she called "shameful" resistance within the Vatican.

"Every day children are being abused so every day that goes by and those who protect abusers are not properly dealt with, more and more children are being harmed when they don't need to be. It's time for the Pope to take strong action."

The Pope's plan for a special tribunal in the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops suspected of mishandling abuse cases or covering them up failed to get off the ground because of bureaucratic delays and legal technicalities.

Pope Francis instead issued an edict in 2016 tasking four Vatican departments with oversight of bishops to examine evidence and make recommendations to the pope, who could then demand their resignation.

While some victims' groups saw the lack of a specific tribunal as a product of resistance from the Vatican's old guard, others said the procedure outlined in the edict could be more rapid than the tribunal.

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

THREE
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Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
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Number of staff: 22 
 
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18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champioons League semi-final, first leg:

Liverpool 5
Salah (35', 45 1'), Mane (56'), Firmino (61', 68')

Roma 2
Dzeko (81'), Perotti (85' pen)

Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

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Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

Dubai World Cup factbox

Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)

Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)

Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)

Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

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Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi

Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag

Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC

Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC

Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan

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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013