Pope admits Church abuse ‘shame and pain’

DUBLIN: Pope Francis said he shared in the "shame and pain" of the Catholic Church´s "failure" to deal with years of sexual abuse scandals as he began a historic two-day visit to Ireland on Saturday.

"The failure of ecclesiastical authorities... to address these repellent crimes has rightly given rise to outrage and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community. I myself share those sentiments," he said, standing next to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.