Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will address child sex abuse with Pope Francis in a meeting in Dublin on Saturday.
The leader of the Irish government, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar has stated that he will address the scandals and abuse within the Catholic Church with Pope Francis when the pair meets in Dublin on Saturday.
While the Taoiseach said that the number of people set to turn out this weekend for the Papal visit - thought to be some 750,000 - is a sign that the Pope is welcome in the country, Varadkar marks this visit as the start of a new relationship in Ireland between Church and State.
He claims that while “it's not the role of the head of Government to ask any church ... to change its faith," the next chapter in Ireland will see the Church act as a part of society put not play a part in governing the country’s laws.
Read more: Why Catholic priests become predators and why can't the truth be told
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he wants to relay the message to Pope Francis that many Catholics feel excluded from the church as they are from an LGBT background pic.twitter.com/o2ieMeqBRj
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) August 23, 2018
Varadkar added that he understood the Irish people would want him to get the message across to Pope Francis during the meeting that the Catholic Church needs to do more to deal with and eradicate clerical sex abuse.
Pope Francis is said to be meeting with the victims of clerical sex abuse during his fleeting Irish trip.
On Monday, he condemned the abuse and addressed the failures to deal with it, asking for forgiveness.
Read more: Pope Francis to meet survivors of clerical abuse in secret while in Ireland
BREAKING: Irish PM Leo Varadkar tells @SkyNews he believes he "can and has to" urge Pope Francis to provide full disclosure on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests. #Taoiseach pic.twitter.com/JJIH96EDxJ
— David Blevins (@skydavidblevins) August 23, 2018
"We have realised that these wounds never disappear and that they require us forcefully to condemn these atrocities and join forces in uprooting this culture of death," he said.
Pope Francis is due to arrive in Ireland on Saturday.
Are there other things you would like Taoiseach Varadkar to address with Pope Francis? Let us know in the comments section, below.
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