The Pope's unprecedented letter vowing there will be no more cover-ups of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is too little too late, an Australian victims' support group says.
In a letter to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, Pope Francis said no effort must be spared to prevent child abuse and the possibility of the crimes being covered up.
Church abuse victims' advocacy group Broken Rites president Chris MacIsaac described the letter as "all too little too late" and words rather than action.
Ms MacIsaac said the various arms of the church remained autonomous and decided what action to take in response to individual cases.
"So often they fall very short of dealing up justice for the victim," she said.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge said they were important words from Pope Francis, "but words are not enough".
"Now is the time for action on many levels," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Archbishop Coleridge said Australia's Catholic bishops shared the Pope's determination to protect young people and vulnerable adults.
Ms MacIsaac said the church had been forced to accept child abuse was a crime, rather than viewing it only as a sin.
"I think victims possibly feel in terms of recognition we've moved a long way, recognition of a huge blight on the church with the amount of sexual abuse that's taken place," she said.
She said the church was still slow to accept responsibility in abuse cases.
"They're slow to admit what they did know and when they should have done something about it," she said.
In Good Faith Foundation CEO Clare Leaney said it was encouraging to see the Pope addressing the whole Catholic Church about what was a whole of church issue.
But she said survivors needed immediate care and support.
"Survivors have been very strong in saying what they want now is affirmative actions to back up those words."
Pope Francis said the church did not act in a timely manner on child abuse.
"We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them."
The Pope said he was conscious of the effort and work being carried out in various parts of the world to ensure children are protected, but did not outline what the Vatican planned to do.
Australia's Catholic leaders will next week release their response to the child abuse royal commission's final report.
Australian Associated Press
