Following the report published last month concerning abused children in the care of Catholic institutions in Ireland, the Pope demanded "justice for all."

The Catholic Church in Ireland is studying the Ryan report, named after the judge who was in charge of the investigative commission, that was published last month concerning physical and psychological abuse of children in Catholic schools in the country since the 1940s.

Cardinal Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and Msg. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, spent an audience with the Pope for 45 minutes on June 5. The report figured among the priorities of the Irish bishops, meeting since Monday until Wednesda at the University of Saint Patrick of Maynooth.

Monday evening after meeting with the Pope, Cardinal Brady explained, "The Pope wrote his first encyclical about the love of God. He was very visibly upset, I would say, to hear of some of the things that are told in the Ryan report, how the children had suffered from the very opposite of an expression of the love of God."

Benedict XVI wishes that all the conclusions are answered in the report.

"He listened very carefully, very attentively, very sympathetically to what we had to say and he said in reply that this was a time for deep examination of life here in Ireland in the Church," Brady said.

Brady said since their visit to Rome, the two bishops met with seven cardinals influential in the Curia. "No doubt the pope will listen to these cardinals that we spoke with last week," he said.

Msg. Diarmuid Martin said the dialogue will continue and there will be a definitive response from Rome about the abuse, but he doesn't know when that may happen.

Besides the declarations of the bishops, it's difficult to know the exact sentiment of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland. The Pope's expression, "justice for all" could mean financial compensation for all.

The 18 religious congregations responsible for the abuse are in negotiations with the Irish government about who will pay part of the compensation. In 2002, the congregations agreed to pay 128 million euros.

But with the number of victims increasing more than anyone expected (around 15,000), the settlement could be more than a billion euros. Many congregations have said they don't have any money, insurance, nor the ability to borrow money to pay compensation. A new meeting with Prime Minister Brian cowen is planned next week to find a solution.

Slow distribution of funds

The payment of 128 million euros has progressed slowly. Half of the sum came from the sale of properties but 19 out of 63 of the sales were stopped. Attorneys for the abuse victims have said the congregations have acted in bad faith since the agreement in 2002, particularly to preserve the anonymity of the authors of the abuse.

"The congregations have pretended for a long time that they didn't know. Then they insisted on secrecy," explained Bernadette Fahy, psychologist with the Aislinn Center, which welcomes adolescents in difficulty. "But it's too late. They no longer have the right to make conditions."

Sunday evening, Cardinal Brady and Msg. Martin met with the Irish Conference of Catholic Bishops, representing more than 138 Catholic institutions. The nature of the discussions haven't been revealed but Msg. Martin said, "We don't want you to think there's a conflict within the conference." He quickly added, "We must first draw lessons from the [Brady] report."