Catholic Archbishop Resigns In Nigeria Over Sex Scandal

Richard Burke, the Archbishop of Benin City, has resigned his appointment with the Catholic Church following allegations of sex abuse levelled against him by Dolores Atwood, who said he segxwally abused her when she was a teenager in Warri, Delta State.

Burke, who admitted to a relationship, however denied that she was a minor when their relationship began.

"The reason for my resignation is that I have been unfaithful to my oath of celibacy," he said in a statement in the Irish Catholic newspaper.

The archbishop stepped down after the allegation was made last year.

Atwood alleged she was segxwally abused by Burke when he was a priest in Warri, Delta State.

But the archbishop said the relationship began in 1989 when she was 21 and he was 40.

“I responded immediately that I have never, ever, in my life - in any way - segxwally abused a child. This is still my position. It is the truth,” he said in his statement.

Burke also apologised to Atwood and asked forgiveness from his missions in Warri and Benin.

The Vatican said it has accepted his resignation as it also named a panel to look into the issue of child abuse in Ireland by Roman Catholic clerics.

The Vatican also said   it would launch a promised probe in the autumn into the paedophile priest scandal that has rocked the Irish Catholic Church.

The team will include four "apostolic visitors (who) will set out to explore more deeply questions concerning the handling of cases of abuse and the assistance owed to the victims," the Vatican said in a statement.

The probe, which Pope Benedict XVI announced in March in a landmark letter to Irish Catholics, is intended to help the Irish Church "respond adequately to the situation caused by the tragic cases of abuse perpetrated by priests and religious upon minors,” the statement said.

It will begin with the archdioceses of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Emly and Tuam, and then be extended to other dioceses, the Vatican said.

A parallel investigation of Irish seminaries will "accompany the process of renewal of houses of formation for the future priests of the Church in Ireland," it said.

The "apostolic visitors" named by the pope are Westminster Archbishop Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Boston Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, and the archbishops of Toronto and Ottawa, Thomas Christopher Collins and Terrence Thomas Prendergast, the statement said.

The Irish Bishops' Conference welcomed news of the investigation, saying it was "one more important step on the path to healing, reparation and renewal in the Church in Ireland" and promising to cooperate fully.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said it was an "important element" in the process of addressing "the truth of a dark moment" in the history of the Irish Catholic Church.

Two ground-breaking inquiries last year into the once powerful Church shocked the mainly Catholic country.

They found that abuse by Catholic clergy and members of religious orders had been widespread for decades and that there was a culture of secrecy and cover-up designed to protect the reputation and assets of the Church.

Pledging a new “season of spiritual rebirth for religious life” in Ireland, the statement said the investigators would “seek possible improvements to the current procedures for preventing abuse.”

Posted: at 10-06-2010 06:51 PM (14 years ago) | Gistmaniac

no be small thing o.benin girl hw una take do am,if na me i go jump and pass

Posted: at 10-06-2010 08:50 PM (14 years ago) | Upcoming

the benin girl enjoy the whole abusing

Posted: at 10-06-2010 09:10 PM (14 years ago) | Gistmaniac

i dont blame d man,may be he is suffering frm libido,u knw those dat are suffering frm libido they are easy to seduce.chei!!!END OF D TIME,just dis evening news on radion,RAY POWER FM said dat a man raped his daughter,infact it is more than rape.d man has been sleeping with his daughter  for 2 years,his daughter was in primary 5 and d man was asked
to explain,he said dat his daughter seduced him dat he can resist it.if na me i go carry cutlass

Posted: at 10-06-2010 09:17 PM (14 years ago) | Upcoming

i dont blame d man,may be he is suffering frm libido,u knw those dat are suffering frm libido they are easy to seduce.chei!!!END OF D TIME,just dis evening news on radion,RAY POWER FM said dat a man raped his daughter,infact it is more than rape.d man has been sleeping with his daughter  for 2 years,his daughter was in primary 5 and d man was asked
to explain,he said dat his daughter seduced him dat he can resist it.if na me i go carry cutlass

Posted: at 10-06-2010 09:30 PM (14 years ago) | Upcoming

the girl no talk that time na now she come dey open her stupid mouth abi?

but seriously speaking i guess the catholic faith ve got to realize it's high time they changed all these their method of the priests not living their normal lives as humans.. cos this has brought so much shame to the christian faith as a whole.  u have their so-called reverend fathers and sisters engaging in despicable act of sins and bringing the Gospel to disrepute.

this is a shame.

Posted: at 10-06-2010 10:37 PM (14 years ago) | Hero

why not allow them to get married like every other human.   that would help in curbing these shameful situations where u have some so-called priest molesting young alter boys and some so-called sisters engaging in the act of Lesbianism. these re the stuffs that's bn going on all along even as we speak here right now.  so why not change such laws, after all the Almighty never ask anyone who wants to serve him to become a celibate, rather he blessed man and asked man to go into the world and multiply all over the earth.

so where did this conflicting  doctrine of celibacy sprang from.

Posted: at 10-06-2010 10:51 PM (14 years ago) | Hero

I say make i peep

Posted: at 10-06-2010 11:52 PM (14 years ago) | Upcoming

person fit throw somtin inside dat ur eyes ooo.....

Posted: at 11-06-2010 12:40 AM (14 years ago) | Hero

hhmmm....

Posted: at 11-06-2010 12:45 AM (14 years ago) | Hero