But the church still struggles to respond consistently and effectively to individual cases. This week, the pope accepted the resignation of a bishop in Los Angeles facing abuse allegations, but a priest in New York, whose victims have been compensated by the New York archdiocese for substantiated claims of abuse, continued to preach days before Christmas.

Some defenders of the church argue that the priesthood has been unfairly targeted and that the problem of sexual abuse is just as common in other institutions.

The pope also asked how “deeply rooted” the problem may be in society at large. And he seemed to share the view, harshly criticized by advocates for victims, that the church’s crisis offered it an opportunity to be a global leader in “eliminating this scourge, not only from the body of the church but also from that of society.”

He alluded to the view in some corners of the church that journalists who report on sexual abuse are guilty of anti-Catholic prejudice, “and of intentionally wanting to give the false impression that this evil affects the Catholic Church alone.”

But the pope then added, “I myself would like to give heartfelt thanks to those media professionals who were honest and objective and sought to unmask these predators and to make their victims’ voices heard.” He added that guilty clerics had proved “capable of skillfully covering their tracks” and that “the greater scandal in this matter is that of cloaking the truth.”

The pope also seemed to use the address to indirectly confront his enemies within the hierarchy who, in the hopes of defending the church orthodoxy from what they consider his progressive dilution of church law, weaponized the sexual abuse crisis to weaken his pontificate.

The former papal envoy to the United States, archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, went so far this year as to publicly accuse the pope of covering up abuse and to demand his resignation. His accusations are so far unsubstantiated, and the pope has responded only indirectly, by talking about the devil’s influence inside the church.