Church must fix \'systematic failures\' on abuse

The church must fix the 'systematic failures' that enabled members of the clergy to sexually abuse children on a global scale.

That's the message of leading cardinals, who suggested Friday bishops should start policing each other's behaviour.

They made their comments at the second day of an historic summit at the Vatican, where nearly 200 senior church officials are gathered to finally find a way forward from a scandal that has shattered its reputation.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) CARDINAL, OSWALD GRACIAS, SAYING: "The sexual abuse of minors and other vulnerable people not only breaks divine and ecclesiastical law, it is also public criminal behaviour.

Pope Francis ordered the summit to ensure church leaders from all over the world understood the depth of the problem and how they could prevent it.

But on Thursday, one archbishop's suggestion that there'll never be an end to the abuse shows just how entrenched the issue is.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ARCHBISHOP, JEAN-CLAUDE HOLLERICH, SAYING: "We should care about the victims and we should care that such things do not happen again.

They will always happen in some way but should be minimised.

It should be the unavoidable few but not in a system." He shook the hand of one of the victims of that abuse.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR, MATTHIAS KATSCH, SAYING: "We cannot understand that after thirty years of discussion world-wide there is someone in there saying 'oh sorry I don't know that it was so deep or so important, the point with so many other important points'.

What could be more important than protect children?" Matthias is one a number of victims who have travelled across the world to make sure their voices are heard before the summit ends on Sunday.