BBC News
March 19, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8575734.stm
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| Pope Benedict has described the abuse as shameful and hateful |
Pope Benedict has written a pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland with guidelines on preventing and punishing sexual abuse of children by priests.
It follows revelations last year of paedophilia within the Irish Catholic Church, which rocked the institution.
Scandals involving Roman Catholic priests have also been reported from a number of other countries, including the Pope's native Germany.
It is unknown if the letter, to be read at Sunday Mass, includes an apology.
The Vatican recently denounced attempts to link the Pope to a child sex scandal in Germany.
His former diocese said he once unwittingly approved housing for a priest accused of child abuse.
In recent months paedophile scandals have also rocked the Church in the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.
The BBC's David Willey in Rome says that by implication, the measures decided by the Pope will have a much wider application than Ireland alone.
'Healing process'
The Pope has announced he will sign the letter on Friday and it will be sent immediately to the bishops of Ireland in preparation for it to be read out in churches there on Sunday.
The text will be published by the Vatican on Saturday.
The Pope has said he hopes it will "help in the process of repentance, healing and renewal".
The message is expected to express contrition for what he himself has already described as shameful and hateful behaviour by some priests.
Last year a damning report into child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese criticised the Catholic Church hierarchy for covering up hundreds of cases going back to the early 1970s.
But what was first perceived in Rome as a series of local scandals has now escalated into a worldwide problem for the Catholic Church with new allegations emerging each week from Catholics claiming they have been victims of sexual abuse by priests.
The implications for the Vatican are serious, our correspondent says.
The credibility of the Church as a guardian of morals is at stake. And there is the prospect of an avalanche of claims for compensation by victims.
That could lead to financial ruin in some dioceses, as has already happened in the US, where the greatest number of cases has been reported.
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