A Ballarat clergy abuse survivor agrees that Tuesday’s unprecedented letter of apology from Pope Francis is too little too late.

In a letter to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, Pope Francis said no effort must be spared to prevent child abuse and the possibility of the crimes being covered up.

Pope Francis has vowed there will be no more cover-ups of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church but church abuse victims' advocacy group Broken Rites president Chris MacIsaac described the letter as "all too little, too late".

“Words are nothing without action,” Mr Sculley said. “The facts of the matter are that it changes nothing.”

“The Pope puts out some nice words for people to swallow, but behind closed doors, nothing changes.”

“It is just throwing salt in our wounds. When is enough, enough?”

“We (the people) break the law and we are penalised for anything at all. These people are allowed to destroy our youth and our lives and they just get a slap on the wrist, … for them it is just business as usual,” he said.

Mr Sculley, and many other abuse survivors, believe Pope Francis was selected because “they [the church] needed someone who could handle the storm they knew was coming.”

“It’s just a mindless conglomerate … they have no compassion, no understanding.”

Mr Sculley believes those in the Catholic Church who have been implicated should be subjected to something that “really hits home.”

“They should be taxed, have their privileges and income removed. They should not be allowed to continue to lead their privileged lives.”

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge said they were important words from Pope Francis, "but words are not enough".

"Now is the time for action on many levels," he said in a statement.

Archbishop Coleridge said Australia's Catholic bishops shared the Pope's determination to protect young people and vulnerable adults.

Ms MacIsaac said the church had been forced to accept child abuse was a crime, rather than viewing it only as a sin but said the church was still slow to accept responsibility in abuse cases.

"They're slow to admit what they did know and when they should have done something about it," she said.

In Good Faith Foundation CEO Clare Leaney said it was encouraging to see the Pope addressing the whole Catholic Church about what was a whole of church issue.

But she said survivors needed immediate care and support.

"Survivors have been very strong in saying what they want now is affirmative actions to back up those words."

Pope Francis said the church did not act in a timely manner on child abuse.

"We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them."

The Pope said he was conscious of the effort and work being carried out in various parts of the world to ensure children are protected, but did not outline what the Vatican planned to do.

Australia's Catholic leaders will next week release their response to the child abuse royal commission's final report.