Nation & World

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Keep a lid on abuse details, church urges 6/13/09 • Vatican welcomes breakthroughs in physics 6/6/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Friday, June 5, 2009 Pope meeting with Irish churchmen after abuse report By Nicole Winfield Associated Press VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI meets today with Ireland's top churchmen following the publication of a damning report detailing decades of rapes, humiliation and beatings at church-run reform schools in Ireland for castaway children. The Vatican said the pontiff would meet in a private audience with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh and Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. The Vatican hasn't yet commented on the Irish government-funded independent report, which last month detailed "endemic" molestation and rape at church-run boys facilities and ritualized beatings at girls' schools from the 1930s to the 1990s. The 2,600-page report -- which took nine years to compile and was resisted by Roman Catholic religious orders that ran the facilities -- concluded that church officials shielded their orders' pedophiles from arrest amid a culture of self-serving secrecy. It was the latest damning report about the generations of abuse young people suffered at the hands of religious men and women in church or at church-run schools and facilities around the world. American dioceses have paid more than $2.6 billion in abuse-related costs since 1950. The Catholic Church in Canada has paid $79 million to native Canadians who were physically and sexually abused at church-run boarding schools they were forced to attend. Benedict has met with American, Canadian and Australian victims. He has apologized for their anguish, prayed for their healing and denounced the "filth" in the priesthood that permitted such abuse. In 2006, Benedict told Irish bishops that the Catholic Church must urgently rebuild trust damaged by clerical sex abuse. He urged them to establish truth of what happened in the past, prevent it from recurring, ensure justice is respected and bring healing to the victims. On Thursday, the 18 religious orders implicated in the Irish report bowed to government pressure and pledged to allow external audits of their finances and to establish an entirely new compensation fund for the 14,000 victims. The groups, however, didn't commit to any specific new financial figure. Victims' advocates claim the orders have been using sophisticated financial shell games to hide their true net worth. They say church groups should foot half of the compensation bill, which now exceeds euro1.1 billion ($1.5 billion). In 2002, when the congregations were denying the scale of the child abuse and the investigation was just beginning, the orders negotiated a controversial deal with the government that capped the church's contribution to victims at euro128 million ($180 million). In exchange, the government established a compensation system that required victims to surrender their rights to sue the church and state in exchange for payouts averaging euro65,000. After claims flooded in from Ireland and around the world, the estimated total bill to taxpayers ballooned to euro1.1 billion ($1.5 billion). Church leaders admit they haven't even reached their euro128 million commitment -- despite owning a property portfolio of schools, hospitals and other assets worth more than euro500 million. The Irish Bishops' Conference said Brady was in Rome to brief the Vatican on the impact of the report on the Irish church. Martin was joining him, after attending previously scheduled meetings on other issues. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

1. From behind bars, pal tells Colton Harris-Moore to keep running 2. A student by day, he's homeless by night 3. Colton Harris-Moore’s mother says he’s not out in the cold 4. Vigil at Mariner High School honors two crash victims 5. Attorney’s daughter: Mom had to have deal with Tiger Woods 6. Sen. Haugen’s husband sued by her former aide 7. Korean Air to buy Boeing 747-8 passenger planes 8. Fund set up to benefit children of couple killed in crash 9. Everett approves a tribute to key figure in its history 10. Snohomish County home sales up; prices fall 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Wildcats fall to familar foe in semis • ‘Nutcracker' times three • Road warrior • Mavericks reloading • Holiday Lightings & Santa Sightings • Cities prepare for winter blast repeat • Wolfpack duo takes last shot at state tourney • This Weekend in Your Town • Tips for the stormy season • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed • Cascade Bank earns $1.6 million