Pope Francis has issued a letter to US Catholic bishops speaking of the “sins and crimes” regarding the rampant sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church — and how the church’s “credibility has been seriously undercut” by the offenses.

“In recent years, the Church in the United States has been shaken by various scandals that have gravely affected its credibility,” the Pope wrote in the Jan. 1 letter received by the bishops as they gathered for a spiritual retreat at Mundelein Seminary in northern Illinois this week.

“These have been times of turbulence in the lives of all those victims who suffered in their flesh the abuse of power and conscience and sexual abuse on the part of ordained ministers, male and female religious and lay faithful. But times of turbulence and suffering also for their families and for the entire People of God.”

Francis went on to say: “The Church’s credibility has been seriously undercut and diminished by these sins and crimes, but even more by the efforts made to deny or conceal them. This has led to a growing sense of uncertainty, distrust and vulnerability among the faithful. As we know, the mentality that would cover things up, far from helping to resolve conflicts, enabled them to fester and cause even greater harm to the network of relationships that today we are called to heal and restore.”

In the last four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the county have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children, prompted in part by a grand jury investigation into decades of child sex abuse by priests in Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Nearly 50 dioceses and religious orders have publicly identified priests accused of molesting children since August and 55 more have announced plans to follow suit over the next few months, the AP found.

The news outlet also found that nearly 20 local, state or federal investigations — both criminal and civil — have been launched since the release of the grand jury findings.

In the eight-page letter to the bishops, Francis wrote: “We know that the sins and crimes that were committed, and their repercussions on the ecclesial, social and cultural levels have deeply affected the faithful. They have caused great perplexity, upset and confusion; and this can often serve as an excuse for some to discredit and call into question the selfless lives of all those many Christians who show ‘an immense love for humanity inspired by the God who became man.’”

The pope added, “Combatting the culture of abuse, the loss of credibility, the resulting bewilderment and confusion, and the discrediting of our mission urgently demands of us a renewed and decisive approach to resolving conflicts.”

He went on to say that “Clearly, a living fabric has come undone, and we, like weavers, are called to repair it” as he noted that “Our catholicity is at stake.”

“The collegial awareness of our being sinners in need of constant conversion, albeit deeply distressed and pained by all that has happened, allows us to enter into affective communion with our people,” Francis wrote.

He told the bishops, “Let us try to break the vicious circle of recrimination, undercutting and discrediting by avoiding gossip and slander in the pursuit of a path of prayerful and contrite acceptance of our limitations and sins, and the promotion of dialogue, discussion and discernment.”

“God’s faithful people and the Church’s mission continue to suffer greatly as a result of abuses of power and conscience and sexual abuse, and the poor way that they were handled, as well as the pain of seeing an episcopate lacking in unity and concentrated more on pointing fingers than on seeking paths of reconciliation,” Francis continued.

“This situation focuses us to look to what is essential and to rid ourselves of all that stands in the way of a clear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the pope wrote.