Pope to address Ireland in first letter on child abuse

THE Pope will address Ireland today in an unprecedented letter apologising for widespread Catholic child abuse.

His message will be watched closely by angry Catholics from Boston to Berlin to see if he acknowledges only the abuse itself — or the decades of Vatican-approved cover-ups too.

Across the Catholic world, the Church is only starting to come to terms with the scale of child abuse permitted in many of its parishes and schools throughout the 20th century.