London, Dec 18 (IANS) The Pope is to avoid visiting Ireland and apologise for decades of child abuse by Catholic priests, British newspapers reported Friday after the Irish bishop at the centre of scandal resigned.
Pope Benedict XVI will avoid Ireland during a tour of Britain in September next year despite pleas from lay members of the Catholic Church in Ireland for him to visit them and apologise in person, newspapers said.

The reports followed the resignation Thursday of Donal Murray, an Irish bishop accused of covering up the serial sex abuse of children by priests in the Dublin Archdiocese from 1975 to 2004.

Murray said in a statement: “I am 73 years old, and I am obliged to hand in my resignation when I turn 75. However, if it will serve the Church, the victims and the people, I am prepared to go sooner.”

A report by an Irish judge submitted earlier this year exposed a shocking litany of abuse, with one priest admitting he had abused more than 100 children, and another confessing to sexual abuse every fortnight over 25 years.

The Belfast Telegraph, serving the British province of Northern Ireland, which borders the Irish republic where the abuses took place, reported Friday that there had been increasing criticism of the Catholic Church by the Republic’s politicians.

Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Martin has expressed his “deep disappointment” at the lack of a response by the Pope and the Vatican to the sex abuse report.

“Such criticism by an Irish government minister was unheard of previously,” the paper said.

“Unless it (the Catholic Church) exhibits a new humility, a deep repentance and a willingness to engage with the laity in a more equal partnership, this crisis of faith will continue, with diminishing returns for the faithful, both lay and clerical,” the paper reported.

The Pope’s Sep 16-19 tour of Britain next year would be only the second papal visit since king Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church in Rome and established the Church of England 475 years ago.