An Australian archbishop admits there will be no quick fix as Pope Francis calls for an "all-out battle" against child sexual abuse, after a Catholic Church summit that left victims disappointed.
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Pope Francis vowed the church will spare no effort to bring child abusers to justice as he closed a landmark meeting on combating the scourge of clergy abusing children.
"I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals, for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth," the Pope said.
The church has pledged there will be concrete initiatives out of the summit, but survivors felt let down by the lack of a decisive action plan and what some advocates labelled the Pope's defensive rhetoric.
Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge admitted the question now was whether the summit would lead to long-term, practical change in the Catholic Church, but insisted it was more than a talkfest.
"We're on a journey. This was not going to be a quick fix," the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president told reporters in Rome.
After earlier telling the 190 bishops and religious leaders "we have been our own worst enemy" over clergy abuse and its concealment, Archbishop Coleridge said it was now very clear there was no place for child abusers in the church anywhere in the world.
"In the Catholic Church there is nowhere for anyone who thinks they can get away scot-free with abuse.
"There is nowhere for them to hide and there is nowhere for them to go."
Echoing the views of victims and other survivor advocates, Blue Knot Foundation president Dr Cathy Kezelman said the summit delivered "a high degree of more of the same".
"Certainly there's been a lot of rhetoric, but there just doesn't seem to be concrete action and a road map which had been hoped for," she told AAP on Monday.
"Accountability, responsibility, transparency - where's the accountability? Where's the zero tolerance to perpetration and to cover-up?"
Dr Kezelman said the Pope focused on the global issues of child sexual abuse including its prevalence in families, when the church needed to show what action it will take.
She said there needed to be ongoing pressure internally and externally for real change to occur in the church.
After the summit, the church announced a new child protection policy for the Vatican City State and the creation of a rulebook for bishops around the world and task forces to help them.
Archbishop Coleridge said the initial announcements were "not world-shattering" but he expected greater transparency over church processes including access to its files and a review of the pontifical secret or confidentiality that applies to abuse cases.
Australian Associated Press
