DUBLIN: During his visit to Ireland, Pope Francis spoke on the issue of child abuse in the Catholic Church and said that he shared the sentiments that led to an outrage over the 'appalling crimes'.
However, the Pope did not mention the current scandal raging over a US grand jury report documenting at least 1,000 cases of pedophilia, involving the clergy, CNN reported.
While speaking to a hall in Dublin Castle in the presence of political, religious dignitaries and foreign diplomats, he said, "The failure of ecclesiastical authorities -- bishops, religious superiors, priests and others -- adequately to address these appalling crimes has rightly given rise to outrage and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community. I myself share those sentiments."
Ahead of Pope Francis' address, Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar criticised revelations of current abuse from Pennsylvania.
"In recent weeks, we have all listened to heartbreaking stories from Pennsylvania of brutal crimes perpetrated by people within the Catholic Church, and then obscured to protect the institution at the expense of innocent victims," he said as quoted by CNN."It is a story all too tragically familiar here in Ireland."
Varadkar also called for a "zero tolerance" approach for sexual abuse in churches and impelled the Pope to implement stringent norms "to ensure that they do not happen again."
Pope Francis also met with eight Irish people who were subjected to clerical, religious and institutional abuse, according to Greg Burke, the director of the Vatican's press office. (ANI)