"The Renewal Benedict Desires": Rome's Blueprint for Ireland's Future

Not to be lost in this morning's Appointment Shuffle, the Vatican closed out a two-year investigation on the state of the abuse-scarred Irish church by issuing a host of observations and recommendations for reform on matters ranging from a lacking role for the laity and the need to rework the nation's ecclesial structures to the church's relations with the press and a revamped format of seminary life.

Following an on-ground study carried out by a team of prelates and religious all descended from the Irish diaspora, the summary Final Report was released in Rome and Ireland, where the country's top three churchmen -- the Cardinal-Primate Seán Brady of Armagh, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin and the freshly-arrived Papal Nuncio, the native New Yorker and longtime CDF aide Archbishop Charlie Brown -- addressed the findings in a press conference at the national seminary, St Patrick's in Maynooth.

Here below, the complete text of the report:

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