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FORMER Archbishop of Dublin Desmond Connell has received a measured and evenhanded send off by the Nation’s papers and media, careful to note he wasn’t just one of four successive cardinals who sought to cover up clerical abuse which had seen Catholic priests rape and abuse children.

Dutifully putting together a number of obituaries, publications rightly observed Connell was a priest and then summarised his life before getting to the unfortunate business about him lying about various aspects of his handling of child abuse allegations, as well as his attempts to restrict a commission of investigation from accessing church files through a court injunction.

Detailing his life, newspapers confirmed Connell was born in 1926, had a childhood, studied and became a priest before getting to the grisly business some paragraphs later of how he was criticised heavily in the 2009 Murphy Report for only sharing the names of 17 out of 28 priests known to be suspected of raping children.

Some were kind enough to omit Connell’s deception and lying relating to the case of abuser Fr Ivan Payne, when Connell denied the church had paid out compensation to victims using diocese funds. A number of publications spared Connell the label of ‘dishonest’ when he hid behind the excuse of ‘mental reservation’ a concept Connell said allowed him to ‘lie without lying’ thus inadvertently exposing his own cowardice.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny also praised the Cardinal, noting his career was ‘controversial’ which many should take to mean his actions caused great suffering to victims and their families

Unconfirmed reports suggest that St. Peter has had to beef up security at the gates of heaven for fear the Cardinal will attempt to gain access to the eternal kingdom.