Pope Francis lamented on Wednesday how church officials in Ireland didn’t do enough to stop predator priests from abusing children — in his first public appearance since the bombshell accusation that he himself shielded an American cardinal.

In his weekly general audience in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff spoke about his weekend trip to Ireland, where a widespread abuse scandal dating back to at least the 1980s has rocked the church’s credibility.

“My visit to Ireland, despite the great joy, also had to bear the pain and bitterness for suffering caused in that country by various forms of abuse, also by members of the church and by the fact that the Church authorities in the past did not succeed in tackling these crimes in an adequate way,” said Francis, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

He went on to express hope that things were changing, saying that Irish bishops have “undertaken a serious path of purification and reconciliation with those who have suffered abuse” and set up “strict rules” to ensure young people are safe.

In Ireland, Francis met with abuse survivors and bishops, and addressed crowds, begging for forgiveness for the “sins and for the scandal and betrayal.”

“In my meeting with the bishops I encouraged them in their endeavors to remedy the failures of the past with honesty and courage,” he said in his Wednesday address, according to CNN.

The address came on the heels of an 11-page letter by a retired Vatican diplomat accusing the pope of covering up for ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, DC, and Newark, NJ — and calling for the Holy Father’s resignation.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano claimed that he told Francis about McCarrick’s penchant for seminarians starting in 2013 but that Francis ignored him and still lifted sanctions Pope Benedict XVI had allegedly imposed on McCarrick in 2009 or 2010.

There’s evidence that the Vatican under Benedict and St. John Paul II were covering up the information that McCarrick, now 88, was sleeping with seminarians at his New Jersey beach house – and that any sanctions allegedly placed on him weren’t enforced, according to the Associated Press.

US bishops have called for an independent investigation to find out who knew what about McCarrick’s abuse and when.

McCarrick resigned as cardinal last month after an allegation that he abused an altar boy was found credible. The pope also ordered his suspension from public ministry.

With Post Wires