Fate of Five Bishops Hangs in the Balance

The Irish Independent is reporting that five Catholic Bishops may face removal/forced resignation in the wake of the latest expose of the Church's near complete moral rot in Ireland. Unfortunately, even if the Nazi Pope forces these resignations, it does nothing to address the fact that Pope Benedict XVI and three of his predecessors - including the less than saintly John Paul II - knew of the abuse problem and the Vatican's 1960's directive to cover up the local scandals in order to protect the reputation of the Church. The lives of the molestation victims meant nothing and there seems to be little true remorse for the thousands and thousands of damaged lives. If Benedict XVI had any real remorse, he and many of the current bishops and cardinals involved in cover ups would all resign. Sadly, I doubt that we will see any such display of real remorse and real accountability. A few bishops will perhaps be sacrificed - and I'm not holding my breath to see even that happen - and the Church will pretend all is well. Here are some highlights:

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The fate of the Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, remained in the balance yesterday while it was expected that other bishops were likely to resign after Pope Benedict warned the Holy See took very seriously the issues raised by the Murphy report, including "the governance of local Church leaders with ultimate responsibility for the care of children".
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However it remained unclear whether Bishop Murray, whom the Murphy report criticised for his mishandling of abuse complaints while he was an auxiliary bishop in Dublin, had actually offered his resignation. To resign as bishop he would first have to offer his resignation to the Congregation of Bishops which dealt in the past with cases involving Bishop Brendan Comiskey and Bishop Eamon Casey. He would have had to explain why he was resigning; and the Congregation under Cardinal Battista Re would then prepare an interim report for the Pope which would usually recommend acceptance of the offer to resign.
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The pressure to resign has increased on other bishops named in the Murphy report into the cover-up of child sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese after the Pope met Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin. They later revealed that the Church in Ireland is to undergo a massive shake-up in the wake of the publication of the Murphy report.
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Andrew Madden, who has been to the forefront in exposing abuse and cover-ups by the Church, said the reaction meant nothing. "What I am expecting is for five bishops to resign and whether I hear it from the Vatican or Twitter, I don't care," he said. "That would be the appropriate response from the Church. Words and prayers and offers to pray for the victims are just meaningless drivel," he said.
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Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said the Pope's statement didn't instill any confidence, and the lack of real action meant the statement could only "be heard with scepticism". Another survivor of sex abuse, Mervyn Rundle, said he was tired of waiting for the "appropriate" response and he was pushing for the gardai here to take a criminal case.
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It is truly amazing to see Ireland, once a bastion of Catholicism, increasingly rejecting the Church and ignoring its attempts to continue to impose 13th century view of sexuality while the hierarchy itself has proven to be a cesspool of those who enable and protect predator priests. Karma can be a bitch.