Aboard the papal plane (CNN) For the first time, Pope Francis has acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops as a "problem" in the Catholic Church, saying that "we've been working on this for some time."

The Pope's comments, which came during a press conference aboard the papal plane on a return flight to Rome from the United Arab Emirates, come as the Catholic Church is dealing with sexual abuse scandals on several continents.

"There have been priests and also bishops who have done that," the Pope said of sexually abusing nuns. "And I believe that it may still be being done. It's not a thing that from the moment in which you realize it, it's over. The thing goes forward like this. We've been working on this for a long time."

Francis said the Vatican has "suspended some clerics, sent them away for this" and "dissolved" some orders of nuns "that were very tied up in this, a corruption."

"Must something more be done? Yes. Do we have the will? Yes," he said.

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