This article comes from Al-Jazeera.
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Irish Bishop Quits Over Abuse Case
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop accused of mishandling child sex abuse allegations in his diocese, the Vatican has said.
John Magee, aged 73, had previously served as a private secretary to three successive Roman Catholic popes before being assigned to Cloyne in Ireland.
The Vatican said on Wednesday that Pope Benedict has accepted Magee's resignation, but did not elaborate.
Irish government-ordered investigations have documented decades of child abuse and cover-ups in the Catholic church.
Three reports published from 2005 to 2009 have documented how thousands of Irish children suffered rape, molestation and other abuse by priests in their parishes and by nuns and brothers in boarding schools and orphanages.
Irish bishops did not report a single case to police until 1996 after victims began to sue the church.
On Saturday, the pope apologised for decades of abuse, but took no action against bishops blamed for cover-ups.
