Catholic Church Apologizes for Child Sex Abuse by Priests

The Irish Catholic Church and the government of Ireland apologized Thursday to the public and to the victims of sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests mostly on children under their care for over three decades.

The Catholic church of Ireland and the Irish government apologized for sexual abuses committed on children in Ireland by Catholic priests for over three decades. The apology by the church and the government of Ireland came after a report was made public on the widespread abuse by some Catholic priests of children under their care. Following a three-year investigation in the Dublin Archdiocese, the country's largest, the report concluded that four archbishops routinely protected abusers and failed to inform police of the allegations. The 750-page landmark report by judge Yvonne Murphy is damning in its criticism of failures to protect vulnerable children, the report added. "I offer to each and every survivor my apology, my sorrow and my shame for what happened," said Diarmuid Martin, archbishop of Dublin since 2004 "I am aware that no words of apology will ever be sufficient," he said, adding that "the fact that many abusers were priests constituted both an offense to God and an affront to the priesthood." The report mentioned of a priest admitting to have sexually abused over 100 children while another priest said he has done so for the last 25 years. The extent of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions of Ireland has been so widespread according to studies on the lingering issue of child abuse in Catholic church-controlled institutions. In the Philippines, and other countries were Catholicism is practiced by the majority of its population, many Catholic priests are often charged by victims of sexual abuse which are committed mostly on women parishioners. Child sexual abuse are often kept in secrecy by victims parents and the church hierarchy. .