POPE FRANCIS *BEGS FOR GOD'S FORGIVENESS*

DUBLIN : Pope Francis ''begged for God's forgiveness'' on Sunday for multiple abuse scandals within the Irish church -

But faced accusations by a former Vatican official that he had personally ignored allegations against senior clergy.

In front of 45,000 supporters at the rain-soaked Knock shrine in the west of Ireland, the pope sought forgiveness over the ''open wound'' of the church's sexual abuse scandal and demanded.......... ''firm and decisive'' measures to find ''truth and justice''.

At a later Mass to tens of thousands of  flag-waving  worshippers at Dublin's Phoenix Park, the showpiece event of two-day visit to the former Catholic stronghold, he also confessed to other abuses by the Irish church, including at its so-called ''mother and baby'' homes.

The scandal has dogged the visit, and intensified overnight when a former Vatican envoy to the US accused Francis of personally ignoring sexual abuse claims against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick who was forced to resign last month.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano wrote in a letter published in the National catholic Register that he had told Francis of the allegations in 2013, but that he had responded by lifting sanctions imposed on McCarrick by predecessor Pope Benedict [AFP]