The Church strongly condemns any form of sexual abuse, particularly when it is committed on children, the Archbishop, Mgr Joseph Mercieca and the Bishop of Gozo, Mgr Nikol Cauchi said yesterday.

In a statement, issued in the wake of highly publicised claims that sexual abuse took place a number of years ago in a Church institution, the bishops said sexual abuse caused a lot of hardship and harm to victims.

In such cases, particularly when children were involved, the primary consideration was to help and protect the victims.

At the same time, the Church also had the duty to give a reminder that those committing the abuse remained humans with their right to dignity.

Mgr Mercieca and Mgr Cauchi said sexual abuse within the Church ran contrary to the teachings and witness given by Jesus Christ. Therefore, they added, the Church would ask the victims for forgiveness for any hardship and harm they had suffered.

"The Church does not want to hide cases of abuse which involved its members. On the contrary, it seeks to establish the truth about similar cases so that all the necessary steps can be taken to curb and stop abuse.

"It was for this reason that, on its own initiative before any other institution, the Church introduced a response team to examine all allegations of sexual abuse put before it while it allowed the freedom to anyone to go to the police if they felt they should do so," the bishops said.

Mgr Mercieca and Mgr Cauchi said the Church understood the interest of the mass media in cases of human hardship such as sexual abuse, especially on children. It also understood the commitment of those journalists who, in an honest way and with responsibility, put such cases before public opinion to strengthen sensibility over such cases and action against such abuse.

However, they added, the Church cannot but deplore the way certain sections of the media chose sensationalism and put aside ethical principles.

The police are investigating the abuse claims.