Envoy: Pope consistent on stopping abuse

DUBLIN -- Pope Benedict XVI has been "relentless and consistent" in seeking to oust child abusers from the priesthood worldwide, the pontiff's new American envoy to Ireland said yesterday in his first homily here.

Archbishop Charles Brown, 52, a Manhattan native and veteran Vatican insider, was making his first public address since officially taking up his post as Irish papal nuncio three days ago.

"From the beginning, Pope Benedict was resolute and determined to put into place changes which would give the church the ability to deal more effectively with those who abuse trust. . . . Pope Benedict has been relentless and consistent on this front," Brown told worshippers and diplomatic guests at a service at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral.

The first-time diplomat faces a delicate repair job in a traditionally Catholic nation that has seen Mass attendance plummet in line with nearly two decades of pedophile-priest scandals.

Last year, Prime Minister Enda Kenny accused the Vatican of overseeing a cover-up culture that encouraged the rape of children. The Vatican took two months to issue a legalistic rebuttal that sidestepped its refusal to help a series of Irish state-ordered investigations.

Ireland then closed its Vatican embassy but insisted this was purely a cost-cutting measure.

In his homily, Brown reiterated the Vatican's long-held line that its leaders have never obstructed Irish efforts to identify and punish several hundred child abusers in parishes and religious orders. -- AP