Pope Accepts Irish Bishop’s Resignation

Pope Benedict XVI has OK’d the resignation of Bishop John Magee, an Irish clergyman who had held prominent positions within the Catholic Church for decades and whose diocese was rocked by allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy ranging from at least the mid-1990s. –KA

Financial Times:

Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop after he was found to have mishandled allegations of clerical sexual abuse of children in his County Cork diocese.

Bishop John Magee, who served as private secretary for three popes, is the biggest casualty of the unfolding crisis over paedophilia in the Irish church.

His resignation follows publication at the weekend of a landmark pastoral letter addressed to the church in Ireland, in which the Pope criticised the hierarchy for a “misplaced concern” to protect the Church and avoid scandal.

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