More than 200 people participated in a silent vigil outside the Holy See’s Nunciature in Dublin on Sunday to protest the silencing or censuring of several Irish priests by the Vatican and to ask for the revocation of these disciplinary measures and their replacement by dialogue, reports Vatican Insider.
The large crowd of committed Catholics, which included several priests and many nuns, braved icy-cold weather conditions to publicly protest their strong feelings against the silencing of five Irish priests whose names have been made public and others whose names are still being kept secret.
Brendan Butler, a spokesman for the Catholic lay group We are Church Ireland which organised the vigil, said: "So many Irish Catholics are expressing their anger at this heavy-handedness by the Vatican against Seán Fagan, Tony Flannery, Gerry Moloney, Owen O’Sullivan and Brian D’Arcy - all outstanding priests of the Irish Church."
He claimed that there are at least four other priests, not yet publicly identified, who have had censorship imposed on them by the Vatican.
Dressed in anoraks and overcoats, the protestors walked up and down, in silence, for one hour, in front of the Nunciature on Navan Road that is also the residence of the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown.
FULL STORY Hundreds in protest outside Holy See's Nunciature in Dublin (Vatican Insider)