Pope Francis has told a mass marking the end of a four-day summit on the protection of children that Catholic clergy who abuse children are "tools of Satan".
Pope Francis convened Catholic leaders from around the world for the meeting to address the scandal that has ravaged the Church's credibility worldwide.
Addressing cardinals and bishops at the Vatican, the Pope said awareness is growing within the church to ensure disciplinary measures are in place to tackle sexual abuse.
He's vowed to protect children from what he described as "ravenous wolves".
"The inhumanity of the worldwide phenomenon becomes even more serious and more scandalous in the Church, because it is in contrast with its moral authority and its ethical credibility. The consecrated person, chosen by God to guide souls to salvation, lets himself be subjugated by his own human frailty, or by his own illness, thus becoming a tool of Satan. In the abuses we see the hand of evil that does not spare even the innocence of children."
A former member of the Vatican Commission on Child Abuse, Peter Saunders, who was abused as a teenager, says Pope Francis' four-day summit on the protection of children was "a wasted opportunity".
Mr Saunders says survivors wanted Pope Francis to implement a law meaning that any priest who raped or abused a child would be handed over to civil authorities for prosecution and also be permanently excluded from the priesthood.
He says survivors also wanted the summit to implement a law that would see bishops, cardinals and other individuals, who covered up such crimes, be handed over to civil authorities for prosecution and be permanently excluded from any kind of ministry within the church.
Mr Saunders has told Sky News that neither of those things is going to happen.
"I don't know of any other profession, I used to be a teacher, my wife is a social worker, if we committed these vile, vile crimes, not only would we hopefully face time behind bars, we would never be able to work in those professions again. That does not apply to the church and at the end of these four days here in Rome, the pope has basically turned around and said nothing significant, or fundamental, is going to change."
More in English via SBS News.
