The Catholic right will go to any lengths to discredit the Pope

There comes a point in the tsunami of abuse allegations about the Catholic clergy when you have to say, stop it right there. The latest cleric to have been accused of abuse is in fact dead: my friend, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, who died last year. A conservative Italian blogger – and by conservative I mean not a particular fan of Pope Francis – Mario Tosatti, and the website LifeSite, have claimed that Francis quashed an investigation by the Cardinal Gerhard Muller, into allegations against Cardinal Cormac in 2013.

The allegations are from a British woman who claimed that, back in the 1960s when she was 13 or 14, she was abused by Fr Michael Hill, a serial predator, and by Cardinal Cormac. Now, Cardinal Cormac did, in 1985, allow Hill (a paedophile) to take on what he thought was a quasi-industrial chaplaincy at Gatwick Airport. Hill had gone to him seeking permission for a fresh start; he had broken down and wept in front of him and, being in the business of forgiveness, not to say, soft-hearted, Cormac gave him one more chance to rehabilitate himself.