“The Church has to stop being a hiding place.”
So says the manager of KASA – formerly known as the Kilkenny Rape Crisis Centre.
Ruth Butler is reiterating calls for all documents relating to child sexual abuse to be released by the Vatican as Pope Francis is set to visit Ireland this weekend.
And speaking on KCLR’s The Way It Is Ruth says now is the time for real action:
“I think it will be an ideal opportunity for the pope to start showing the way.
“The Church has to stop being a hiding place. It’s got to follow the same rules as every other agency with mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.
“It’s a crime, not a sin, what was going on. It was actually a crime. So we need to take it out of the Church and hand it over to the relevant authorities.”