Spoke: no resignations on agenda during Irish bishops’ meeting with pope over abuse scandal

Bishop: resignations over abuse not on summit plan

ROME — An Irish prelate says resignations won’t be on the agenda when he and other bishops meet with Pope Benedict XVI this week about the pedophile priest scandal that has rocked Ireland.

Bishop Joseph Duffy, a spokesman for the Irish Bishops Conference, acknowledged that the church had been slow in reacting to the scandal that involved decades of sexual, physical and psychological abuse by clergy of minors in parishes and Catholic-run orphanages, workhouses and boarding schools.

The pope will meet Monday and Tuesday with two dozen Irish prelates, including a bishop who has refused victims’ demands that he resign.

Duffy said Sunday that Benedict is well informed about the issue and had access to documents about the abuse even before becoming pope.