Pope to probe child sex abuse in Ireland

VATICAN CITY, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI met Friday with leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland and promised to investigate decades of sexual abuse of children.

The pope met at the Vatican with Cardinal Sean Brady and Monsignor Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. They discussed the Murphy Report, released Nov. 26, which said four men who served as archbishops of Dublin covered up allegations of sexual abuse between 1960 and the 1980s.

Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, the Vatican ambassador, or papal nuncio, to Ireland, and members of the Curia were at the meeting.

"The Holy Father shares the sense of outrage, betrayal and shame felt by so many of the faithful in Ireland and joins them in prayer at this difficult time for the life of the Church," the Vatican said in a statement.

Benedict also said the church would investigate how the abuse occurred and what steps should be taken to prevent similar conduct by priests and other church employees.

Two government reports this year have taken on the past conduct of the church in Ireland. In May, the Ryan Report documented 70 years of physical and sexual abuse of children in church-run institutions like orphanages.