Two more Irish bishops to quit over child abuse

Auxiliary Bishops of Dublin Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field said in a statement they had informed the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, on Christmas eve on Thursday of their intention to quit.

Report

Four bishops have now resigned following a damning report last month by judge Yvonne Murphy on the Dublin archdiocese — the country’s biggest — that found that the Roman Catholic authorities concealed abuse of children by priests for three decades.

“It is our hope that our action may help to bring the peace and reconciliation of Jesus Christ to the victims/survivors of child sexual abuse. We again apologise to them,” Walsh and Field said in their statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have so bravely spoken out and those who continue to suffer in silence.”