BBC新闻100篇 News Item 88

Senior Irish Catholican Protestant clergymen

have criticized the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion

for saying that Catholic Church in Ireland

had lost all credibility over the child abuse scandal.

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin

said he was stunned and disheartened by the Archbishop of

Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams' first comment on the crisis.

Robert Prigott reports.

Even Pope Benedict has accepted

that the Catholic Church in Ireland has lost moral authority,

saying in his pastoral letter last month

that its bishops had lost their effectiveness

because of the way they handled the ***ual abuse.

But criticism from the leader of another church

proved too much.

Dr.Williams has spoken of the colossal trauma

caused by the scandal.

But they were words Dr.Williams' quickly regretted

and he phoned the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin

to express his deep sorrow at the difficulties his remarks had caused.