Do You Renounce

I do renounce it, says the Vatican.

They renounce An Taoiseach Enda Kenny's claim that the Holy See was coddling pedophile priests at the opening of the 21st Century.

Contrary to Mr. Kenny's opinion, the Vatican says they didn't come right out and tell the Irish bishops not to call in the gardai to investigate abuse cases.

You can safely assume that the bishops and the cardinals and all the rest of the hierarchy didn't much appreciate Mr. Kenny referring to them as residents of Elitist Land from the state of Narcissism.

So that settles it. The Holy See rejects Mr. Kenny's assertions. As far as the Vatican is concerned, his allegations are unfounded.

So will all of you who have seen how elitist and narcissistic the Irish bishops have been, will you please return to the pews? You can't believe your own eyes. The Vatican has so decreed, and so it must be.

The basis of much of Mr. Kenny's lashing of the Vatican is based on documents issued by the Vatican, in which the protective measures put in place to end decades of misery were parsed and analyzed in a way that suggested a team of lawyers was on the hunt for loopholes.

It's the sort of attitude that Catholics find reprehensible, and it's the sort of attitude that's turned people off from Catholicism.

To describe the Irish government's dictates on handling abuse cases as "study guidelines", and to express serious reservations about the new policies, isn't exactly a ringing endorsement for ending clerical child abuse.

Even so, the Vatican rejects the assertion that they tried to insert themselves between Church and State. If members of the Dail had read the Cloyne Report objectively, they never would have passed a motion that slapped down the Holy See with a mighty fist.

The Vatican renounces Enda Kenny's assertions. They do renounce them. But why don't people believe they're being sincere?