WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The Vatican and Ireland had a diplomatic spat over an inquiry into priests' alleged sexual abuse of children, U.S. embassy documents published Saturday showed.
The intelligence observations from U.S. diplomats in Dublin said the Irish government granted diplomatic immunity last year to Vatican officials from testifying about allegations of a Catholic church cover-up with regards to sex abuse claims, The Guardian reported.
The Irish inquiry was examining claims that 320 people alleged sexual abuse of children between 1975 and 2004 by priests in the Dublin archdiocese. As part of the probe, Vatican officials were asked to give testimony, prompting a diplomatic quarrel, U.S. documents posted on the WikiLeaks site said.
The Vatican, as a sovereign state, maintained "foreign ambassadors are not required or expected to appear before national commissions," and the inquiry proceeded, the newspaper said.
Regardless, Pope Benedict XVI rebuked the Irish Catholic leadership in March for their management.
"Grave errors of judgment were made and failures of leadership occurred," the pope said. "All this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness". UPI
