There was a time when Irish Catholics might have been delighted to see the pope lavishing attention on their bishops. On Feb. 15 and 16, however, when Ireland’s bishops were at the Vatican to discuss an ongoing child sex abuse scandal, Catholics back home were furious. Catholics were already upset about Pope Benedict’s refusal to apologize to the thousands of abuse victims in Ireland or even hint that he would meet with them, as some had requested. But what really set them off seems to have been the images of their bishops kissing the pope’s ring. Photos of the traditional greeting were plastered across broadsheet front pages and TV broadcasts over the following days. These, combined with images of the Vatican’s opulent Apostolic Palace — where the bishops met the pope and senior cardinals — as well as the regalia of all those elderly men and the complete absence of lay people or any woman, had a profoundly negative effect. The response was unqualified rage. Andrew Madden, the first person in Ireland to go public about his abuse by a priest, described the meetings at the Vatican as ‘a complete waste of time’ and the greatest act of […]