'Pope Francis did not apologise for Church crimes in Ireland'

Last weekend, Pope Francis paid a two-day visit to Ireland, where he reacted to widespread sexual and physical abuse carried out at Catholic churches, schools and workhouses over decades. Francis met with some of the victims and issued a sweeping apology for what he called the "crimes" of the Catholic Church in Ireland. But activist Colm O'Gorman, himself a victim of clerical sexual abuse, says the pope's words were not actually an apology, but rather "a begging for forgiveness".

Colm O'Gorman tells FRANCE 24 he wants Pope Francis to acknowledge that "the Church has, across the Catholic world, implemented a deliberate, wilful policy of the cover-up of the crimes of its priests and its clergy".

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By Tom BURGES WATSON