Pope is 'visibly upset' over report on child abuse at Irish industrial schools
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DUBLIN - Pope Benedict XVI was highly upset by revelations that priests and nuns had beaten and raped children for many years in Irish industrial schools, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin said yesterday.
A harrowing report into the systemic abuse in Ireland's now defunct system of industrial and reform schools has shocked the once devout Catholic country and put pressure on religious orders who ran the institutions to pay more compensation.
"He was very visibly upset, I would say, to hear of some of the things that are told in the Ryan Report and how the children had suffered," said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.
Martin and the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, met the pontiff last week to update him about the fallout from the report. Benedict, who apologized for sexual abuse by clergy during a visit to Australia last year, has not commented publicly on the Irish revelations.
Brady said Benedict told them to ensure that "justice is done for all."
The 18 orders named in the report have said they will pay more compensation to thousands of victims following public and political pressure.
A 2002 deal capped the orders' contribution to a redress fund at $175.7 million. The total bill is now expected to top $1.4 billion.
The report detailed floggings, slave labor, and rape by priests throughout the 20th century, describing over thousands of pages how children were also preyed upon by foster parents and volunteer workers.
