it beggars belief so it does....

[stokemaveric]

a catholic priest was involved in a bombing spree killing dozens] in northern ireland and the catholic church is covering another incident up yet again this organisation has more scandal and blood on its hands than the mafia...anyway lets all bow down and kiss the popes feet next month on his visit to the uk...

[jackthehat]

^ Steady, doc...............sweeping generalisations and all that..........

[Bobbisox]

have you had an overdose of Rum doc, not nice comments!

[joeluke]

Doc speaks his mind, nowt wrong with that, he's entitled to his opinion just like the rest of us are

A catholic priest was a secret IRA bomber and the catholic heirarchy covered it up for nearly 40 years. He's dead now so his victims and their families can never get justice

It's as bad as the catholic child abuse cover up

[Bobbisox]

and I agree joe but a sweeping statement on all Catholics????
plus he didn't spell it right...lol

[joeluke]

Agreed bobbi, his statement should've been aimed at the 'Catholic church hierarchy'

[Bobbisox]

and I would have agreed in principle joe, I am Protestant but found his statement offensive to the Catholic people in here

[dundurn]

A Catholic priest was SUSPECTED of being involved. He was never arrested or questioned by the police. That leniency, rather than the silence of the Catholic Church, is the extent of the collusion or cover-up. The Catholic Church failed to make this public at the time? Given that there were no charges being made against the priest they could hardly have done otherwise. The people who covered up what evidence there was, to the extent that there was any evidence, and who failed to move against the priest were the British Government and the RUC. While the political fallout of putting a priest in the dock might have given HM Govt pause it was their decision and theirs alone.
And just to make matters clear I am a Protestant with a mother from NI and a grandfather and four grand-uncles who all served in the RIC. I prefer my justice in court and not by character assassination of the dead, who are (I hope, still) innocent until proven guilty.

[sandyRoe]

If there ever was a conspiracy to cover up the alleged actions of this priest, it took two to tango. Cardinal Conway of the church and Willie Whitelaw, Thatcher's friend. He was then Secretary of State for N Ireland.

[tamborine]

"....Detectives wanted to arrest the Catholic priest, who was believed to be the commander of an active IRA terrorist unit, but the move was blocked by an Assistant Chief Constable...."

Bishops of the diocese take these decisions, the Pope is not consulted.

http://www.dailymail....ministers-Church.html

[sandyRoe]

At that time the police at Castlereagh Interrogation centre were regularly accused of beating confessions out of people.
Imaging the world wide bad publicity if they'd been accused of torturing a priest.

[evedawn]

Yes - it brings embarrassment to Christians of any denomination (or indeed to anyone who has a shred of decency).

[modeller]

I'm not surprised this just another example of political and religious hypocrisy .

[jake-the-peg]

Some might suggest that the Padres tending to troops in the army before they go out and shoot people are pretty hypocritical too

Not the same thing as they're not taking an active part in specific actions let alone organising it but it's still pretty hypocritical

[piggynose]

good old tabloid press keeping us well informed

[youngmafbog]

I suspect there is far more here than meets the eye. The troubles in NI were terrible for some and possibly the best solution at the time was to quietly remove him. Can you imagine what would have happened if a priest was arrested (at the time) and 'interrogated'

[birdie1971]

Piggynose - “good old tabloid press keeping us well informed”

Yeah! What are they like eh? If the tabloids 'report' it then it just a load of old rubbish isn't it? How dare the tabloids cast aspersions on the good and wholesome members of the Catholic faith? Shame on them I say! Let's just Google the story and see if anyone else is bothering to report this non-story...

Ohh... errmm...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...hern-ireland-11058002
http://www.guardian.c...bings-cover-up-report
http://uk.reuters.com...idUKTRE67N23820100824


I would appear that the late Father James Chesney wore two hats. One hat was his holy hat and the other one was his, 'I'm a fundamentalist murdering lunatic' hat. I suspect that the latter hat was black – like his heart.

This is not tabloid journalism targeting the wrong man Piggynose. This is a truly depressing story about a man so twisted by religion that he was happy to murder other people in the name of religion. Don't brush it off as 'just another Tabloid story'. That just makes you look foolish and heartless.

[Answerprancer]

Catholics have been masters of atrocity for centuries, the Malleus Maleficarum is a prime example that resulted in the mass-murder of millions of innocent European women.
Roman Catholicism has also invaded western society in other more pernicious ways over the centuries and warped the human psyche horribly.
It's good to know this is finally being recognised at last.