Australia's Catholic leaders have vowed to end the cover-up of child sexual abuse but steadfastly refuse to break the seal of confession, even if it means priests could face criminal charges.

The leaders have vowed the Catholic Church's shameful history of priests and others in its ranks sexually abusing children will never be repeated.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge, left, has released the Australian Catholic Church's response to the child abuse royal commission. Credit:Melissa Adams

They pledged accountability and a plan of action in response to a call for sweeping reforms issued by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It will be up to Pope Francis and his advisers to act on many of the royal commission's far-reaching recommendations and its implications for centuries-old canon law.