Revelations of child abuse by Catholic priests was not affecting public confidence in the Catholic church, according to Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor.
The Cardinal is himself under police investigation following allegations that he ignored cases of child abuse by a priest in his diocese when he was Bishop of Brighton and Arundel in the 1980s. "Faith in priests is not being eroded as a result of these things. The organisation is taking great steps to make sure that within the organisation the protection of children is ensured," he said.
The Cardinal, leader of four million Catholics in Britain, served as Bishop of Brighton and Arundel in Sussex in the 1980s and is alleged to have turned a blind eye to a paedophile priest, Father Michael Hill, who was jailed in 1997 for abusing nine boys over 20 years. Last month, Pope John Paul II said the church had to be more careful not to let men with deviant desires enter the priesthood.
September 30, 2002 18:30
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