Irish archbishop blocks Vatican interference in abuse case
Archbishop John Kennedy at his desk in the DDF
By Chai Brady October 17, 2024
An attempt to reinstate a priest laicised for the sexual abuse of minors by a top Vatican cleric has been decried by a leading Irish child protection campaigner Marie Collins, who warned children would have been put in danger.
The Vatican Secretariat of State tried to undo the laicisation of Ariel Alberto Príncipi, a former diocesan priest convicted of child sexual abuse while in Argentina, but was thwarted by Irishman Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith disciplinary section.
Archbishop Kennedy declared void the September order from the Secretariat of State to rescind the laicisation in one of the most controversial public clashes between Vatican departments in recent times.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Marie Collins said within the Vatican “there is a great emphasis on authority and power and obviously somebody thought that they had enough authority to overturn something that the disciplinary department had set in place”.
“No decision like that should ever be changed unless there’s new evidence or an appeal and the whole case is re-judged and re-examined. I’m 100% behind Archbishop John Kennedy because if his department has decided that that is the appropriate sanction then it is not up to anyone else to undermine that decision,” she said.
“It’s a strong action and he is standing by the decision of his department. What would be the point of having sanctions if they can be just ripped up willy nilly? At the end of the day the safety of children is at stake and that’s what the processes are there for and nobody should be allowed to interfere with that.”
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