"Cardinal Secrets" is a 2002 ''
Prime Time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
'' special produced by
Mary Raftery and reported on by Mick Peelo. Its broadcast on RTÉ Television led to the setting up of the Murphy Commission of Investigation into
clerical abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese which published the
Murphy Report
The Murphy Report is the brief name of the report of a Commission of investigation conducted by the Irish government into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. It was released in 2009 by Judge Yvonne Murphy, only a fe ...
in 2009. Anger at the Catholic Church's handling of clerical sex abuse was reported to have reached a zenith following the broadcast of "Cardinal Secrets".
It revealed how the then Archbishop of Dublin
Desmond Connell (since made
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, ...
) had (a) covered up the defrocking of two priests the church had concluded had been involved in sexual abuse, (b) later failed to give information about these priests to investigators (c) written a "clean" reference for a priest alleged to have committed sexual abuse of children.
See also
* ''
States of Fear''
References
External links
Watch clip from ''Prime Time'' programme "Cardinal Secrets"
{{Catholic Church sexual abuse cases
2002 in Christianity
2002 in Irish television
Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Ireland
Irish documentary television series
Irish religious television series
Media coverage of Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals
Prime Time (Irish TV programme)
RTÉ original programming