Hello All,

What are your views about the church's lead and actions on the child abuse scandels.

Is the pope taking the right leadership steps to address this serious issue?

It would seem from the recent news concerning Cardinal brady would suggest that peiople have lost faith in the leadership of the church and are taking matters into their own hands.

What can the pope and other church leaders learn from these events?

I recognise that the pope needs to follow a careful review of what has happended, but the pope should have removed the the bishops and cardinals mentioned in the public report.

Clearly more action could have been taken in respect to procedures and policy on this matter and disappointed that nothing significant was decided and communciated from the pope.

It just show what bad leadership can result in. The damage the Church has done to the state must make it hard for the older generation. It's time for Ireland to find a new path.

Hi Justin. The Church take all the decisions the make from cannon law, which in turn means that whatever leadership they give is based on such law. The result of this is that the power of the church and its institutions will always take precedence over the civil rights of its flock. It is now imperitive that a law be enacted to make it a criminal offence for every citizen who fails to report child abuse no matter who commits the offence. Regards Des

Thank you for your comments Neville, Mike and Des!

I can't understand why the Pope or the church leaders do not retire the cardinals and bishops involved to send a clear message and start from a clean slate.

I have to say. I was surprised at the letter from the Pope.

It was better than I expected. More could have been said but its a start.

Watching how Rome conducted itself in the Easter ceremonies was a depressing experience. The pope's own preacher comparing criticising clery to attacks on the Jews; the dean complaining of 'petty attacks' on the Pontiff. It's clear the Roman leaders still "don't get it".