American Catholics are calling for immediate changes in the church as the re-emerging international scandal of child sex abuse is causing some to speak out in protests.

The pope wrapped up a trip to Ireland this weekend. During the trip, he apologized for decades of sex abuse at the hands of priests and for the systemic coverup.

The Vatican’s former top diplomat in the United States claims Pope Francis was a part of sexual abuse allegation coverups and released an 11-page document accusing the Pontiff of turning a blind eye.

Former Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano accused several senior church leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations linked to former Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. Vigano claims Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Pope Francis knew about allegations for years.

The Washington Archdiocese released a statement Monday that said in part, “Cardinal Wuerl has categorically denied that any of this information was communicated to him.”

Vigano, 77, is known for his hardline, anti-gay views. He is also not new to media coverage as he made headlines in 2012 during the “Vatileaks” scandal.

The pope did not respond to Vigano’s call for his resignation and told reporters, “I will not say a single word on this.” He added he might address it after some time passes.

When the Pennsylvania grand jury report was released and identified roughly 300 priests and more than 1,000 abused children, Donna Doucette said she was not surprised by the revelation.

“It’s a shared sense of betrayal and loss and grief. There’s a huge grieving process going on,” said Doucette, executive director of Voice of the Faithful.

Voice of the Faithful is an international group of 30,000 Catholics. The organization was created in 2002 as a response to the sexual abuse crisis in the church. It wants more parishioner participation in church governance.

“It’s astounding that cover-ups were rampant throughout, not just in moving around the pedophile priests, moving around predators, covering up and not saying anything to people whose people were now in danger," Doucette said, "but also that even among their own ranks, when their own seminarians were being preyed upon, they still said nothing."

Voice of the Faithful identify the main problem with the church as clericalism, where priests and other church leaders hold themselves apart from rules and consequences.

“You must be of the people and with the people. You are not the ruler of the people,” she said.

Doucette said the sexual abuse scandal is devastating for churchgoers and honest priests. As a practicing Catholic, she does believe there is hope the church can change for the better.

“Yes, if the church has any remaining vestiges of grace from God, there is no question that it will change," she said.