Pope Francis has responded to new reports of clerical sexual abuse and the ecclesial cover-up.
In a letter addressed to 'the whole People of God', published on The Vatican website, he calls on the church to be close to victims in solidarity, and to join in acts of prayer for those "atrocities".
He says the heart-wrenching pain of these victims was "long ignored, kept quiet or silenced."
"Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike.
"Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient.
"Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.
"The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults."
The statement comes following a report detailing sexual abuse by hundreds of priests in the US state of Pennsylvania.
A grand jury investigation there alleged that 301 Catholic priests sexually abused children while serving in active ministry.
The abuse is alleged to have occurred over 70 years in six dioceses.
"Shame and repentance"
Pope Francis adds: "With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realising the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives.
"We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them."
He continues: "The extent and the gravity of all that has happened requires coming to grips with this reality in a comprehensive and communal way.
"While it is important and necessary on every journey of conversion to acknowledge the truth of what has happened, in itself this is not enough.
"Today we are challenged as the People of God to take on the pain of our brothers and sisters wounded in their flesh and in their spirit.
"If, in the past, the response was one of omission, today we want solidarity, in the deepest and most challenging sense, to become our way of forging present and future history."
"Such solidarity demands that we in turn condemn whatever endangers the integrity of any person.
"A solidarity that summons us to fight all forms of corruption, especially spiritual corruption."
Safety and protection of children
He adds: "I am conscious of the effort and work being carried out in various parts of the world to come up with the necessary means to ensure the safety and protection of the integrity of children and of vulnerable adults, as well as implementing zero tolerance and ways of making all those who perpetrate or cover up these crimes accountable.
"We have delayed in applying these actions and sanctions that are so necessary, yet I am confident that they will help to guarantee a greater culture of care in the present and future."
"It is essential that we, as a church, be able to acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons, clerics, and all those entrusted with the mission of watching over and caring for those most vulnerable.
"Let us beg forgiveness for our own sins and the sins of others.
"An awareness of sin helps us to acknowledge the errors, the crimes and the wounds caused in the past and allows us, in the present, to be more open and committed along a journey of renewed conversion."
The Pope is due in Ireland for the World Meeting of Families on August 25th and 26th.
