Pope Francis has issued a plea for forgiveness in an open letter to Catholics around the world.
In the open letter, Pope Francis admits that the Catholic Church had let thousands of children down and it showed ‘no care’ to the victims of repeated sexual abuse by priests.
The letter which was issued on behalf of the Pope comes as the pontiff is scheduled to make a his visit to Ireland later this week.
It is thought the Pope had called for the church to be held accountable for covering up the historic abuse and all Catholics must pull together to root out the problem.
In the letter the Pope said: “”We have realised that these wounds never disappear and that they require us forcefully to condemn these atrocities and join forces in uprooting this culture of death.”
“We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.”
Pope Francis words come after further cases of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church were highlighted last week.
According to a new report published in the US state of Pennsylvania, the church systematically covered up the abuse of over 1,000 children by hundreds of priests.