Cardinal Sean Brady must resign

 Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland,   admitted he was 'ashamed' for not reporting a paedophile priest to police.

The cardinal, who Vatican insiders say may be asked to step down by a furious Pope Benedict XVI, expressed his regret at a St Patrick's Day service as the abuse scandal continued to rock the Church.

The 70-year-old, who as Archbishop of Armagh is Primate of All Ireland, was a priest in 1975 when he attended meetings where children signed vows of silence over complaints against paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth.

  It emerged that the children, aged 10 and 14, had been asked to sign a pact of silence so that the 'Church could carry out its own investigation'.

Irish Catholic officials did not explain why neither Cardinal Brady nor his superiors at the time shared their information with the police. Fr Smyth went on to abuse more children in the following years. 

At the Dublin service Cardinal Brady even hinted he may stand down - despite saying  he would only go if the Pope told him to - and said he wanted to 'reflect' on his role.

He said he wanted to apologise to 'all those who feel I have let them down'. He added: 'This week a painful episode from my own past has come before me.

'I have listened to reaction from people to my role in events 35 years ago. Dealing with the past is never easy. I want to say to anyone who has been hurt by any failure on my part that I apologise to you with all my heart.

'I also apologise to all those who feel I have let them down. Looking back I am ashamed that I have not always upheld the values that I profess and believe in.'

A source at the Vatican said: 'Cardinal Brady's credibility has been seriously affected here and the word is the Pope will not allow him to continue because what he did was very serious.'

Abuser: Father Brendan Smyth, pictured at court in 1997. His child victims were forced to take a vow of silence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Smyth_(priest) 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN9h1dNuCAo

Response of the Church to the scandals

In June 2001, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Ireland established the Catholic Church Commission on Child Sexual Abuse, also known as the Hussey Commission, to investigate how complaints about clerical abuse of minors have been handled over the last three decades.

In February 2002, 18 religious orders agreed to provide more than 128 million in compensation to the victims of Child Abuse. Most of the money was raised from church property transfers to the State. The agreement stipulated that all those who accepted the monetary settlements had to waive their right to sue both the church and the government. The identities of the abusers was also to be kept secret.