Pope Francis says the Vatican has a 2000-case backlog in processing clerical sex abuse cases and admits criticism of the slow pace is justified.
He said on Saturday more staff are being added and the Vatican is "on the right path".
Francis was making his first comments about the criticism levelled at the Vatican's handling of sex abuse cases by Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who resigned from Francis' sex abuse commission in March.
Collins quit because of what she called the "unacceptable" resistance in the Vatican to implementing the group's proposals to better care for victims and protect children.
Speaking to reporters while flying home from Portugal, Francis called Collins "a great woman" and said she was "a bit right" to complain about the slow pace in processing cases.
