By IANS/AKI,
Vatican City : Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop who was found to have not handled properly allegations of clerical sex abuse in his diocese.
The pope accepted Bishop John Magee’s resignation Wednesday, a year after he quit as bishop of Cloyne in southern Ireland. Magee stepped aside in after an inquiry found that his diocese had put children at risk.
Two other investigations also spoke about the abuse of children by Irish clergy.
Last year, a report spoke on decades of abuse in the Dublin archdiocese and the Ryan report detailed physical and sexual abuse at Catholic orphanages and schools in Ireland.
“His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend John Magee, Bishop of Cloyne,” a Vatican statement said.
Magee earlier served as personal secretary to Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
Benedict last week issued a pastoral letter on the damaging child sex abuse scandal in Ireland, apologizing for the abuse and rebuking Irish bishops for “grave errors of judgement”.