A NEW £3.5m state of the art Assessment and Resource Centre for clients with a range of disabilities in Lisburn has been officially opened by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey.

Campaigners had hoped that after his seven page letter on Saturday to Irish victims of child abusing priests in which he said he was “truly sorry” the Pope would use his weekly sermon to apologise in public.

The leader of Catholics in England and Wales has staunchly defended the Pope over his handling of the case of a US priest suspected of abusing children.

AS the Catholic Church reels from a week of accusations regarding child abuse and secret payments to victims, Newtownstewart parish priest Fr Stephen Kearney believes it may not be the last of the “bad news.”

Pressure for more resignations among Ireland’s Roman Catholic hierarchy continued to grow yesterday when a bishop admitted that he had failed to report a paedophile priest to the police.

Pope Benedict XVI has apologised to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland. In a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, he acknowledged the sense of betrayal in the Church felt by victims and their families.

Pope Benedict XVI’s pastoral letter to Ireland’s Catholics has failed to arrest the scandal engulfing the church, with pressure growing for the resignation of bishops who were in positions of authority during the paedophile priest cover-up.

The Catholic Church in Ireland faced fresh allegations of mishandling child sex abuse yesterday following claims that a bishop was party to swearing to secrecy a girl abused by a priest in an out-of-court settlement.

Health Minister Michael McGimpsey today launched a new regional directory of services for victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse.

The Bishop of Derry has been accused of being involved in a compensation deal to cover up alleged child sex abuse. Dr Seamus Hegarty was one of three priests named in a civil settlement after an eight-year-old girl was abused over a 10-year period from 1979.