Catholics in England and Wales offer abuse apology

LONDON (Reuters) - Catholic bishops in England and Wales apologized Thursday for the child abuse scandals that have hit the church worldwide, saying "terrible crimes" were committed and the response from some leaders was inadequate.

Hundreds of cases of sexual and physical abuse of youths in recent decades by priests have come to light this year in Europe and the United States.

The scandal has developed into the greatest crisis of Pope Benedict's five-year pontificate. He himself is accused of turning a blind eye to a case in 1980 when he was Archbishop of Munich in Germany.

He is set to visit England and Scotland in September in what will be the first official papal tour of Britain.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales has had its own scandals but they broke about a decade ago and reforms have since been introduced.

But the bishops said the child abuse scandals had been such a focus of public attention that they wished to address the issue directly.

"Catholics are members of a single universal body. These terrible crimes, and the inadequate response by some church leaders, grieve us all," they said in a statement.

"We express our heartfelt apology and deep sorrow to those who have suffered abuse, those who have felt ignored, disbelieved or betrayed."

The statement was issued on the same day as the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop James Moriarty after an official report named him among leaders in the Dublin archdiocese who had covered up cases of child sex abuse by priests for 30 years.

Wednesday, the pope, who has come under fire from victims' groups for using vague language about the crisis, publicly promised Church action.

The Bishops of England and Wales said victims had suffered severe and lasting wounds and the offences committed by some priests were a "profound scandal" that brought deep shame to the whole church. But it said they were the "personal sins of only a very few."

The statement recognized the failings of some bishops and religious leaders in handling the allegations.

But Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales which has about five million worshippers, backed Pope Benedict, saying he had provided leadership.

"In our statement we express real confidence in him. I think some of the issues that have been attached to his name are a bit tendacious," he told BBC television.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)