The child sex abuse scandal has destroyed the image of the Catholic Church in Ireland, an Australian royal commission has heard. The
former provincial of the Jesuit order in Ireland, Dr Gerry O'Hanlon,
said the scandal changed the culture in Ireland so much that in the
1990s almost all priests were viewed as pedophiles.
"The
image and the reality of the Catholic Church in Ireland has been
severely dented and almost fatally destroyed by the abuse scandal," Dr
O'Hanlon told the child abuse royal commission on Wednesday.