The Pope has vowed to pursue justice for victims of church abuse in Ireland as he ended his historic visit to the country by seeking forgiveness for its dark litany of clerical crimes.
Addressing a large crowd of pilgrims at an open air Mass in Dublin's Phoenix Park, Pope Francis laid bare the many forms of abuse and mistreatment meted out to children and vulnerable adults in past decades.
Seeking forgiveness for each scandal in turn, the pontiff also acknowledged that members of the church's hierarchy had also sought to cover up the sins of colleagues and failed to show compassion for the victims.
"We ask forgiveness for the abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, of conscience, and sexual abuses perpetrated by members with roles of responsibility in the church," he said on Sunday.
But pressure on the Pope increased the same day when a former top Vatican official accused Francis of having known of allegations of sex abuse by a prominent US cardinal for five years before accepting his resignation last month.
Vatican officials on Sunday declined immediate comment on an 11-page letter given to conservative Roman Catholic media outlets by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.
Vigano said he had told Francis in 2013 that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had faced extensive accusations of sexually abusing lower-ranking seminarians and priests.
McCarrick became the first Cardinal in living memory to resign his position in the Church leadership after a review concluded that allegations he had sexually abused a 16-year-old boy were credible.
In Ireland, the legacy of church abuse cast a long shadow over the first papal visit to the country since 1979, as the pontiff repeatedly moved to address the scandals.
His words drew praise in some quarters but others accused the Pope of not going far enough.
A total of 500,000 tickets were snapped up for the Phoenix Park Mass but the actual crowd appeared significantly smaller.
The awful weather, widespread travel restrictions and long walking distance to the venue were all likely factors, but some who compared it with the massive crowds who greeted John Paul II four decades previously suggested it was also a sign of the church's waning influence in Ireland.
As the Pope's plea for forgiveness rang out around the park on Sunday afternoon, elsewhere in Dublin abuse survivors and campaigners protested at his visit.
A vigil was also held at the site of the mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, where a mass grave containing around 800 babies not afforded proper burials was recently uncovered.
At an address at the holy shrine of Knock, in Co Mayo, the Pope said no-one could fail to be moved by stories of young abuse victims who were "robbed of their innocence" and left with "painful memories".
Before departing Dublin for his flight home, the Pope held a short meeting with a number of Irish bishops.
He told them the scandals had also caused "hurt and discouragement" to current members of the priesthood, something he said was often "ignored or underestimated".
