Pope urges Catholic Church to repent for its sins

He spoke about "attacks" on the church and the need for Catholics to recognise their mistakes.

The Pope's remarks came during a homily at a Mass inside the Vatican for members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Victims of clerical abuse have long demanded he take more personal responsibility for clerical abuse, claiming that the Vatican mandated a culture of cover-up and secrecy that allowed priests to rape and molest children for decades unchecked.

Those demands have intensified in recent weeks as the Vatican and the Pope himself have been accused of trying to cover up abuse by priests.

"I must say, we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word 'repent', which seemed too tough. But now under attack from the world, which has been telling us about our sins ... we realise that it's necessary to repent, in other words, recognise what is wrong in our lives," the Pope said.

"Open ourselves to forgiveness ... and let ourselves be transformed. The pain of repentance, which is a purification and transformation, is a grace because it is renewal and the work of divine mercy," he said.

It was the Pope's fullest allusion to the scandal since he sent a letter to the Irish faithful on March 20 concerning what Irish-government inquiries have concluded was decades of abuse and church-mandated cover-up in the country.

The letter chastised Irish bishops for failures in leadership and judgment. But he took no responsibility himself or for the Vatican, which many victims have blamed for being more concerned about protecting the church than children.

On Monday the Vatican posted on its website what it claimed had been a long-standing church policy telling bishops that they should report abuse crimes to police, where civil laws require it.

But critics have said the guidelines were merely a deceptive attempt to rewrite history, designed to shield the Vatican from blame by shifting responsibility onto bishops.

The Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, a canon lawyer who has been the main expert witness for victims in hundreds of lawsuits, called the guidelines a "failed attempt at damage control through revision of history."

He noted that senior Vatican officials have been quoted as saying the church should not require bishops to report abusive priests to police because it would violate shared trust.