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Pope to discuss abuse report

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Pope Benedict XVI in the library at the Vatican
Cardinal Sean Brady has revealed he will discuss the report on the decades of child abuse in institutions run by religious orders with Pope Benedict.

Ireland's most senior Catholic cleric also called for the compensation deal for victims to be reviewed.

At present the religious orders' contribution to the victims' fund is capped at €127m out of the possible total of €1.2bn.

"It (the deal) should be revisited, and taken into consideration the potential of people's to pay, and the needs above all of the victims. We have to keep coming back to that," Cardinal Brady said.

The standing committee of the Conference of Bishops, led by Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, met in Maynooth on Monday to discuss plans for their three-day summer meeting in June.

The 26 heads of dioceses in the Republic and Northern Ireland will gather for one of only four meetings a year with the Ryan report likely to be top of the agenda.

Archbishop Martin also severely criticised the orders for failing to fully implement the compensation scheme, agreed between the state and the Conference of Religious of Ireland in 2002.

The contract gave the government property and payments worth €127m but left the taxpayer to foot the massive bill for a redress scheme for victims.

© Press Association

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At 10:05 on 26 May 2009, lorna wrote:
Let the Catholic church pay all expenses they were responsible for ignoring abuse and failing in their duty. When the state would not or could not go against the church the burden of guily falls directly on the church.The Catholic church is one of the richest in the world.Now its time for them to redeem themselves of this wrong
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