Pope Francis' child sexual abuse advisory group is under-resourced and struggling to carry out its work, a royal commission sitting in Sydney has heard.
Members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Thursday agreed the Catholic Church was still struggling to deal with its child safety responsibilities.
Australian commission member Kathleen McCormack said underfunding, infrequent meetings, and structural and cultural barriers were hampering the group's work.
"Our budget would be what you would do in a diocese, but we're dealing with the whole world," she said at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Thursday.
UK member Sheila Hollins agreed the commission was struggling to operate.
"Why can't you go to the Pope and say 'We don't have the resources we need to effectively carry out our work'?" royal commission chair Peter McClellan asked.
Baroness Hollins replied: "That may well be something we want to feed back to him when we complete our review."
The three-week royal commission hearing in Sydney has been investigating what led to continuing child abuse in the Catholic Church.
Ms McCormack said dealing with Rome was comparable with the trials of working in child protection in the late 1980s. The only way she could "stand it" was to keep having hope, she said,
"It's like water on a rock. We've just got to keep at it."
Australia's metropolitan archbishops are expected to give evidence later on Thursday.
