Actions not words key for Church

THE Pope’s vow to address the sexual abuse of children is welcome – but what we need now is practical action.

For far too long the Catholic Church moved priests who were preying on innocent young victims – whose lives were destroyed.

There have been many strongly-worded speeches during the reigns of former pontiffs but their promises have been hollow.

The scale and the wide-ranging nature of the sexual abuse in Ireland during the last three decades is the stuff of nightmares and leaves a deep scar on our society.

What makes it truly reprehensible is children are the most vulnerable victims of crime.

Their voice when confronted by priests – who were trusted – made it very difficult for them to find the strength to speak out.

This unspeakable and disgusting abuse was made far worse by the collusion and cover-ups which persisted.

Fr Brian D’arcy is right to call out Pope Francis and the Church to now put practical measures in place to ensure there are protections for children.

The Vatican has stressed the four-day conference was arranged to give bishops concrete guidelines for preventing and reporting abuse.

We need them here urgently and priests and clergymen who don’t report their evil colleagues need to be defrocked just like the monsters who carry out the abuse.