Vatican Praises Steps Taken By Irish Church

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says archdioceses in Ireland are making an “excellent” progress in efforts to implement norms to protect children in the wake of decades of pedophile priest scandals.

The Vatican on Tuesday released a summary of findings of its own yearlong investigation ordered by Pope Benedict XVI after the uproar over widespread child abuse by priests and allegations of cover up by the church.

The Vatican said its investigators saw for themselves “how much the shortcomings of the past” caused an inadequate reaction “not least on the part of various bishops and religious superiors.”

It expressed a “great sense of pain and shame.”

It also found that a large number of priests, nuns and lay people held theological views at odds with church teaching, but gave no specifics.