In two more Irish Catholic bishops have resigned in connection with the child sex abuse scandal that has severely damaged the Catholic Church in Ireland.

On Christmas Eve, auxiliary Bishops of Dublin Eamon Walsh and Raymond Field announced that they had offered their resignations to Pope Benedict XVI. Four Irish bishops have now resigned in the wake of the Murphy Report, commissioned by the government, which found that Roman Catholic authorities in Ireland covered up the sexual abuse of children by priests for decades.

The damning report, compiled by Judge Yvonne Murphy, revealed that the Catholic authorities protected more than 170 paedophile priests.
 

The investigation concluded that "the Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities".