Angels And Demons

People forget sometimes that one of the oldest diplomatic states on Earth is Vatican City, and apparently they have WikiLeaks-based problems with embarrassing cables just like everyone else.

Among the documents were cables showing that relations between the Vatican and Ireland deteriorated sharply as the Holy See appeared to ignore a commission looking into complaints of physical and sexual abuse of children by Irish priests.

One cable from earlier this year says the Vatican was angered by the way the Murphy Commission -- which was looking into the how complaints of abuse had been handled by the Church and Irish government -- sidestepped normal diplomatic channels.

The commission had written directly to the Vatican to seek information and requested a meeting with the Vatican's representative in Ireland. The Vatican envoy did not respond, according to the cable.

The cable was one of several published Friday by the Guardian newspaper in London.

The Murphy Commission was appointed after another inquiry issued a report in May 2009 detailing horrific abuses, including 325 alleged cases of abuse by priests, and concluding that the problem was endemic.

"The Vatican believes the Irish government failed to respect and protect Vatican sovereignty during the investigations," the charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, wrote in February 2010.

"Adding insult to injury, Vatican officials also believed some Irish opposition politicians were making political hay with the situation by calling publicly on the government to demand that the Vatican reply."

But the cable added: "Much of the Irish public views the Vatican protests as pettily procedural and failing to confront the real issue of horrific abuse and cover-up by Church officials."

I'd have to side with our ambassador to the Vatican on this one.  The situation that the Murphy Commission is dealing with is about as ugly as it gets, and nobody stalls quite like the Vatican does.  Granted, Ireland has much larger problems to deal with right now with their economy locked into austerity freefall and their government on the verge of collapse, but it's still pretty damn important to note what's going on there.

Openly pressuring the Vatican on something like this is a pretty bold move, but I certainly can't blame the Irish for doing so.