Pastoral letter to victims expresses shame and remorse of Catholic church and calls on priests to face justice

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

The pope today apologised to the victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland, saying he was "truly sorry" for their suffering.

In a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, Benedict XVI castigated Irish bishops for "grave errors of judgment" in their handling of the paedophilia scandal and ordered a Vatican investigation into the Irish church.

But he made no mention of any Vatican responsibility and gave no specific punishments for bishops who have been blamed by victims and Irish government inquiries for having concealed the abuse.

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," the pope wrote, addressing the victims.

"It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the church. In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel."

The letter described the sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by priests, brothers and nuns as "sinful and criminal", saying they had betrayed the trust of the faithful, brought shame on the church and now must answer to God and civil authorities.

"Conceal nothing," he said. "Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy."

Benedict criticised the Irish bishops for having failed, "sometimes grievously", to apply the church's punishments for child abusers, which include defrocking them. But he did not rebuke them specifically for having failed to report cases of abuse to police.

"I recognise how difficult it was to grasp the extent and complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information and to make the right decisions in the light of conflicting expert advice," Benedict wrote.

"Nevertheless, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgment were made and failures of leadership occurred. And this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness."

In recent weeks, the Vatican has been trying to contain damage as a string of scandals over sexual abuse of children by priests has hit Ireland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

The pope ordered a Vatican investigation into some dioceses, seminaries and religious orders. Such inquiries only occur when the Vatican considers a local church unable to deal with a problem on its own, as in the case of sexual abuse by US priests.

Victims have demanded that bishops resign. Three Irish bishops have offered to step down but the pope has not accepted their resignations.

Three official inquiries, ordered by the Irish government, documented how thousands of Irish children were raped, molested or otherwise abused by priests in their parishes, and by nuns and brothers in boarding schools and orphanages. Irish bishops did not report a single case to police until 1996 after victims began to sue the church.

Benedict said he recognised that nothing could undo the victims' pain and he compared their suffering to that of Christ on the cross.

"Christ's own wounds, transformed by his redemptive sufferings, are the very means by which the power of evil is broken and we are reborn to life and hope."