"Vatican Recalls Ambassador to Ireland Over Abuse Report" By Rachel Donadio/New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/world/europe/26church.html?_r=1
July 25, 2011
"ROME — In a deepening standoff, the Vatican has recalled its ambassador to Ireland following the release of an Irish government report that the Vatican had discouraged efforts by bishops to report cases of sex abuse to the police, the Holy See said Monday.In a statement issued Monday, the Vatican cited “the reactions that ensued” following the publication of the report.
The Vatican’s decision to recall Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza follows the release on July 13 of the report, which found that clergy in the rural Irish diocese of Cloyne did not act on complaints against 19 priests from 1996 to as recently as 2009. More damningly, it said that the Vatican had encouraged bishops to ignore child-protection guidelines adopted by Irish bishops in 1996 that included “mandatory reporting” of abuse to civil authorities.
A spokesman for the Vatican said that recalling a nunzio, the church’s equivalent of an ambassador, was a rare move that “denoted the seriousness of the situation,” as well the Holy See’s “will to deal with it with objectivity and determination.”The spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, told reporters on Monday that Archbishop Leanza would return to Rome to consult with Vatican officials who are preparing an official response to the Irish government, but added that the decision “does not exclude some degree of surprise and disappointment at certain excessive reactions.”....