The Pope has said all institutions – and not just the church – should be held to exacting standards in the response against sex abuse.

The Catholic Church is making ‘conscientious efforts’ to confront the problem

Benedict XVI told US bishops that the paedophilia scandals were a “scourge” for society, and said the Catholic Church was making “conscientious efforts” to confront the problem.

He acknowledged that decades of scandals involving the clergy’s sexual abuse of young people had disoriented the faithful in the US.

The Pope said: “It is my hope that the Church’s conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognise the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society.

“By the same token, just as the church is rightly held to exacting standards in this regard, all other institutions, without exception, should be held to the same standards,” the Pope said.

He did not address accusations by many victims and their advocates that church leaders, including at the office in the Vatican that Benedict headed before becoming pontiff, systematically tried to cover up the scandals.

Investigations, often by civil authorities, revealed that church hierarchy frequently transferred paedophile priests from one parish to another.

The paedophile scandal has exploded in recent decades in the US, but similar clergy sex abuse revelations have tainted the church in many other countries, including Mexico, Ireland and several other European nations, including Italy. Benedict told the bishops that his papal visit to the US in 2008 “was intended to encourage the Catholics of America in the wake of the scandal and disorientation caused by the sexual abuse crisis of recent decades”.

Echoing sentiment he has expressed in occasional meetings with victims of the abuse on trips abroad, Benedict added: “I wish to acknowledge personally the suffering inflicted on the victims and the honest efforts made to ensure both the safety of our children and to deal appropriately and transparently with allegations as they arise.”

Benedict seemed to be reflecting some churchmen’s contentions that the church has wrongly been singled out as villains for the abuse.

The bishops were making periodic consultations with the Vatican, scheduled for every five years.